What a tangled web of confusion over schools

SCHOOLS, teachers, parents and children seem to be caught in a web of complete confusion woven by this government.

Are schools closed? Well only for some students. If you’re a “critical” worker or your child has special needs, then they can go to school.

The list of “critical” workers has grown like Topsy.

As you might expect, it includes children where one parent works in health or social care.

But who would have thought the government would extend the definition of “critical” workers would be extended to lawyers and court staff, religious workers, and journalists?

So schools have lots of pupils turning up for face to face teaching. And, in general terms, it takes just as many teachers to teach (say) half a class as it does to teach a normal sized class. On top of that teachers have to provide online learning. So their workload has doubled and the risk of spreading infection amongst pupils and parents is probably pretty much the same. But teachers are THREE times as likely to catch COVID-19.

There are more than one million children who don’t have access to a laptop at home. Never mind that they often don’t have access to broadband. The government’s answer as ever is to splash out enormous sums of money on useless gestures, which make good soundbites but little sense.

I believe around one million new laptops have been ordered by the government but they need to be set up and connected to broadband to be of any use at all.

In contrast, the local Lions groups are collecting (and cleaning out) old laptops which can be upgraded and distributing these in their hundreds to local families.It would be difficult to imagine how any government could make a bigger bungle of our children’s education.

Let’s stop trying to micro manage education from Westminster and give local headteachers the freedom and the resources to make their own decisions on what’s best for our children’s education in this time of crisis.

Alan Hilliar By email