It’s our moral duty to reopen schools, Boris tells unions

BORIS JOHNSON today throws down the gauntlet to union leaders blocking the return of pupils to classrooms in England.

The PM told The Mail on Sunday that a resumption of normal teaching is now his ‘national priority’ – adding it is a ‘moral duty’ to reopen schools. It comes after Dr Mary Bousted, head of the National Education Union, urged schools to ignore ‘threatening noises’ from Ministers and refuse to reopen south of the Border if they feel it is unsafe.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of getting children back in school during a series of No10 meetings last week.

He said it is ‘crucial’ for ‘their welfare, their health and for their future’ that children should return to classrooms full-time, adding: ‘We can do it – and we will do it. Social justice demands it.’ Mr Johnson also spoke of the ‘uplifting sight… as millions of parents rose to the challenge of educating their children’ amid the added pressures of lockdown, but said that had to end.

Highlighting the damage to children from poorer families in particular, he said: ‘Time out of class means lower average academic attainment, with a lasting effect on future life chances. The less children are in school, the worse it is for their health.

‘Most painfully of all, the costs of school closure have fallen disproportionately on the most disadvantaged, the very children who need school the most. Keeping schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.’