No tripping up on school run

HAPHAZARD? Incompetent? Erratic? Mixed?

How would you describe the Government’s handling of the Covid crisis over the last six months or so?

It’s safe to say words such as adept and masterful are unlikely to feature on anyone’s lists outside No.10.

But this week the Government has the chance to change all of that, as nearly all the schools in England and Wales should be welcoming pupils back.

This is a key moment in this administration’s short life. Get this wrong and Boris Johnson will need the comeback powers of Lazarus.

At least the penny seems to have dropped with parents. A poll showed that more than three-quarters of those questioned were in favour of getting their children back behind their desks.

Presumably, months of untidy bedrooms, children declaring “I’m bored” every five minutes and failed attempts at home-schooling have persuaded them as to the merits of getting their little ones learning. Parents will also have been heartened by the news that since June’s limited re-opening of classrooms, only one school in 10,000 has had a Covid outbreak.

And of 1.6million pupils tested only 70 proved positive – or one in 23,000.

Five former Education Secretaries from three parties all support the move. Labour’s Lord Blunkett says “the future of our country depends on it”. Not for the first time he’s spot on. Despite this, watch out for the inevitable point-scoring this week from Labour MPs, who will seize the opportunity to oppose for opposing’s sake while offering little in the way of proposed alternatives.

It’s going to be anything other than plain sailing though. And, rest assured, some teaching unions will make sure of that.

But the Government hasn’t helped itself with yet another U-turn over pupils wearing masks.

It is fair to say that these reversals are more a media obsession than they are with normal, decent people.

I’ve always said that if you’re going the wrong way up the M1 it makes perfect sense to turn around.

However, there does come a point when a series of U-turns means you would have to question the ability of whoever is at the wheel.

Hopefully, the Department for Education will have learned from the shambles over exam grades.

If they haven’t, they will be stuck in the corner and wearing a dunce’s cap for a long, long time.