FURLOUGHING OF OUR CHILDREN

Millions may not even be able to go back full-time in September

MILLIONS of children may be unable to return to school full time in September, the Government admitted last night.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told MPs an ‘ambition’ to get all primary age children back in class for a month before the summer break had been abandoned just weeks after it was set.

And Government sources even refused to confirm all children at either primary or secondary schools would be able to go back full-time after the August summer break.

Senior officials would say only that they hope to have ‘more’ pupils returning by the start of the new academic year.

Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield accused ministers of ‘furloughing childhood’ and said she was ‘incredibly concerned’ pubs and theme parks now looked set to reopen before most schools.

The Government’s two-metre social distancing rules and advice from Public Health

England – that class sizes should be limited to 15 – are believed to be the major obstacles to getting more children back.

Boris Johnson is coming under huge pressure to scrap the rules, with Business Secretary Alok Sharma yesterday admitting he was being lobbied every day over the issue.

But many Tory MPs believe ministers have failed to get a grip on the crisis, with experts warning that the fiasco could create a lost generation of children.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Williamson said he was ‘ working to bring all children back to school in September’.

But he also revealed he is drawing up new guidance for headteachers on ‘minimum curriculum criteria’ for remote learning – suggesting he does not expect all children to return for the start of the term.

And Mr Williamson acknowledged it could take disadvantaged children more than a year to catch up with the schooling they have already missed, but said extra help would start this summer.

The plan to get all primary school children back this month was a central plank of Mr Johnson’s ‘road map’ for easing the lockdown, which was published on May 11.

Ministers had hoped it would limit the damage to children’s education and allow parents to go back to work.

But Downing Street yesterday said this had been impossible, with

Government scientists concerned that a faster return to school could push infection rates back up to dangerous levels.

Teaching unions, which have dragged their feet over the return to school, welcomed the delay.

However, the decision will pile more pressure on the Prime Minister

to scrap the controversial twometre social distancing rule, which has not only hampered the return to school but threatens to wreck a revival for the hospitality industry.

Mr Sharma hinted he was keen to see the rule relaxed, saying he understood business concerns.

He pointed out other countries such as France safely operate with a one-metre rule.

Robert Halfon, Tory chairman of the Commons education committee, warned Britain was facing an ‘epidemic of educational poverty’ which could ‘damage the life chances of hundreds of thousands of young people’. Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper said: ‘We have almost three months until the autumn term starts. Gavin Williamson and the Department for Education must use every day until then to guarantee every child can return to school.’

For Labour, its education spokesman Rebecca Long Bailey welcomed primary schools not returning more quickly and called on ministers to do more to support home learning.

But Meg Hillier, Labour chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, accused Mr Williamson of being ‘asleep on the job’.

Government sources hit back at charges of complacency.

‘No one can accuse us of lack of effort,’ one source said. ‘We are doing everything we can but the practicalities are very difficult.’

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