The National Education Union has issued 200 safety demands they want met before schools are to fully reopen in September. The response from many Tory MPs to this has been to describe the list as a ‘wreckers’ charter’, designed to make a return to the classroom this autumn practically impossible.
Boris Johnson, meanwhile, is establishing getting kids back to school full-time once again in September as one of the guiding missions of his premiership. As the prime minister said, ‘now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so.’
This is a wise move by Boris Johnson. Getting the classrooms full again is a big opportunity with little political risk. Even if we do have a second wave of coronavirus this winter, blaming it on schools isn’t going to have a lot of political currency.
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