PM to order end of face masks in the classroom

Boris Johnson will defy trade union pressure and announce on Monday that secondary school children will no longer have to wear face masks in class, The Telegraph understands. The PM will confirm that the Government guidance is changing from May 17, when England moves into stage three of the reopening roadmap, according to multiple senior Whitehall sources. Officials at the Department for Education are already drafting the new guidance, which will drop the recommendation that English secondary school pupils should wear face masks in class, while still encouraging their use in corridors. Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said that the success of the vaccine rollout and the current low level of Covid cases in schools had paved the way for the move.