Missing out on school is disaster that lasts for ever

THE huge damage i nflicted on youngsters by a long break from school has been laid bare by several new studies.

Interrupted schooling has deep and long- lasting effects on children, according to Oxford University researchers who used data from school closures in a disaster zone. They said the study ‘has relevance for other disasters, including the Covid-19 pandemic’.

The study found that children’s test scores in areas of Pakistan hit by a 2005 earthquake were between oneand-a-half and two years behind their peers in untouched areas. Those affected face losing 15 per cent of their earnings every year for the rest of their lives.

In another study, US researchers looked at the effects of the ‘summer slide’ – when children forget over the long holidays what they have previously learned – to estimate the impact of school closures caused by the coronavirus.

It said students are likely to return to the classroom with less than 50 per cent of the knowledge and skills they had in maths.

Meanwhile, a major UK study into t he l ong- t erm consequences of the Covid crisis on the younger generation is being undertaken by Exeter University.

Dr Lee Elliot Major, the university’s professor of social mobility, said: ‘What is already clear is that the drastic losses in learning will have profound impacts on the lives of many children and young people.

‘Every extra week away from faceto-face teaching adds to the cumulative damage over a lifetime. We need to assess the short-term risks of containing the virus against the longert erm, but i n many ways more profound, risks of damaging the prospects for a whole generation.’

Natalie Perera, executive director of the independent Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: ‘Pupils across the country have suffered huge learning loss since the lockdown began, with the most disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils hit the hardest by school closures.

‘The period of disruption faced by schools is likely to have increased the achievement gap between the poorest pupils and the rest, which is already 18 months of learning by the end of compulsory education.

‘ The Government must offer maximum support to schools so t hat t hey are able t o continue with pupils’ education in a safe and secure environment.’

Maura Regan, chief executive officer of Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, which runs 18 academies in the North-East, told The Mail on Sunday that schools ‘owe it to society’ to have staff back work

‘The detrimental impact on children is just huge’

ing so that children’s education can get back on track and parents can return to work.

‘In essence we need to get children in school in September. I’d like to see us back full time and back permanently full time,’ she said.

‘There is a balance to be struck between the risk and the priority of getting children back and the economy going.

‘But the detrimental impact on children, especially the most vulnerable who might not have the drive or the parental support, is huge.’

Other research shows that the least well-off children have suffered the most from being out of school. An Institute for Fiscal Studies report found children from better- off households are spending 30 per cent more time each day on educational activities than children from the poorest fifth of homes.