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Gavin Williamson is willing to give in to pressure to rethink his plans for the return of high schools in England in the New Year amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
The government has been planning a staggered return of schools and universities in January to enable the deployment of a massive Covid-19 testing program for students.
The Education Secretary has faced growing calls from teachers, unions and scientists to delay the planned reopening for fear that the return of schools will cause infection rates to spike even further.
It has now been announced that Mr Williamson will deliver a statement to MPs this afternoon in the House of Commons, detailing his revised proposals.
MailOnline understands that Williamson will announce changes to the school’s return schedule, although the elementary schools are not believed to be affected.
Gavin Williamson will deliver a statement to MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon to set out the government’s revised plan for the return of schools in the New Year.
The Government has been planning Most high school and college students to start the online quarter starting January 4 and then return to face-to-face lessons starting January 11.
The week-long delay was planned to give schools some time to implement a coronavirus testing program.
But the physical return to the classroom for many students is expected to be delayed beyond January 11, as ministers try to slow the spread of the disease after a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus caused an increase in the number of cases. .
Williamson’s announcement comes after several senior scientists called for schools to remain completely closed in January, arguing that such drastic action is the only way to reduce infection rates.
Professor Neil Ferguson, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group (Nervtag), said there had been a ‘balancing act’ since the lock between maintaining control of the virus and maintaining ‘something akin to normal society. ‘
But he said the planned reopening of the schools starting next week may have to be postponed.
Yesterday he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One program: “Clearly, nobody wants to keep schools closed. But if that’s the only alternative to having an exponentially increasing number of hospitalizations, it may be necessary for at least one period.
“There are no easy solutions here. My real concern is that even if universities, schools, have staggered returns or even remain closed, it is now unclear how easy it would be to maintain control of the virus, given how much more transmissible this variant is. ”
Previously, members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), Professor Andrew Hayward and Dr. Mike Tildesley, noted the possibility of a “slight delay” in getting students back to the classroom.
Figures released yesterday by NHS England showed that another 365 people who tested positive for Covid-19 had died, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in England hospitals to 49,225.
Downing Street said yesterday that it “is still planning a phased opening of schools” after Christmas, but insisted that the plans would be kept under constant review.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said at a briefing in Westminster: ‘We are still planning a staggered opening of schools and we are working to ensure that testing is in place.
“As we have said during the pandemic, we obviously keep all measures under constant review.”
Earlier this month, the government said that exam-year students in England would return to school normally after the Christmas break from January 4.
But most high school students would begin the period online to allow principals to implement mass testing of children and staff before returning beginning Jan. 11.
Schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will also use tiered returns for students in January, with some students participating in online classes before the gradual reintroduction of face-to-face teaching at the end of the month or in February for some age groups.
The prospect of a further delay in the return of high school and college students to the classroom will reignite warnings about the damage the pandemic is doing to student learning.
Robert Halfon, Conservative Chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Education, has demanded that the government put in place a long-term plan for the sector to provide certainty to parents, teachers and students.
He said schools can no longer be treated as a ‘revolving door’ with staff and students ‘without knowing overnight what is going to happen.’
The government is recruiting soldiers to help schools set up test facilities, but unions and principals have criticized ministers for the short notice they were given to implement the measures.
The proposed implementation of mass testing in schools was announced just the week before Christmas, sparking a race against time to find volunteers to administer checks to students.
The teachers’ unions said it would be impossible to get the testing program in place by January 11 and have called for the return of the students to be delayed.
Jon Richards, director of education at Unison, said: “It is clearly important that schools and universities are open, but that must be weighed against the rapid spread of the infection, particularly in schools.
Massive testing of staff and students has been rushed and schools are struggling to cope with the demand.
“It makes sense for schools to move online for at least the first half of the quarter, to allow for proper plans in place for mass testing.”
