We need an early return of children to school

sir – I cannot understand why we are hearing nothing about getting students back to school and university.

Why not give the teachers the vaccine and get them back? Given the sometimes inadequate online teaching, consequent mental health issues and the knock-on effect to the parents, why is this not a priority?

Pupils cannot afford to miss any more schooling.

Judith Pelham

Surbiton, Surrey

sir – Our daughter is home-schooling her five-year-old son. He is missing being at school with his friends. As part of a maths lesson they cooked a batch of cakes together to take to his local friends’ houses. They were shocked and dismayed to discover that the majority were, in fact, at school.

These were not the children of front-line workers; indeed, the parents were at home. This scenario poses a real problem: should our daughter attend to the needs of her family and allow her son to go to school? Are the rules being policed?

Jill M Hughes

Seaford, East Sussex

sir – How can we assess the loss of a year’s teaching plus disruption to children’s education?

Education was massively disrupted during the Cultural Revolution in China between 1966 and 1976. Books were almost impossible to come by and academics were sent to the countryside to do manual work.

Interestingly, children of that era performed well once they went to university. In fact, that generation has been at the forefront of quite spectacular growth in the Chinese economy, art and culture in the years since 1976.

Richard Ronald

Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire