The unspoken truth about home school: poorer children will suffer

This week, school starts again, but not in anything like the normal way. Were it not for Covid-19, millions of children would wake tomorrow to the familiar routine: a hurried breakfast, perhaps a panicked search for missing shoes or a stray jumper, then a dash to avoid being late.

Instead, what awaits young minds that would otherwise be trying to learn? In this strange new world, where each family and household gamely tries to find its own way from the start of the day to the end, there are probably only two certainties around education. First, the BBC, which tomorrow unveils the biggest slate of educational programmes in its history. Second, the jokes, the social media jokes from parents juggling work and the improvement of the next generation.

I don’t need repeat those jokes here because everyone, whether they have children or not, will be familiar with them: the internet has been awash with self-deprecating gags about how hard it is to work and teach, to keep the little darlings engaged with geography or spellings while dialling in to video-conferenced meetings and stay sane.