Our columnist Dawn Neesom has her say
Our children are the future, but they’ll be the ones who suffer in the years to come
Agood teacher not only motivates you at school, they can inspire you for life. Yet it is still one of the most underrated, underpaid and stressful professions you can go into.
And this year it has been one of the most controversial. Coronavirus meant that schools and universities had to shut down in March. The battle to reopen them pretty much ever since means that children’s lives have been turned into political footballs kicked around between the Government and unions.
Meanwhile a generation of kids are potentially having their lives ruined. Dramatic? Yes, but true. While wealthy families with Wi-fi, laptops and spacious homes can and are ensuring their offspring learn at home, poorer ones are struggling.
An estimated 700,000 youngsters received NO education at all during lockdown. If they cannot return to school until September, they will be weeks behind their more affluent classmates. For many this will be an impossible gap to close that will potentially affect huge life choices.
Some of these children will be fiercely bright but even the cleverest will struggle to overcome poverty and poor education.
Parents and the economy also suffer. With kids not in school, parents can’t return to work or, even worse, some have left their children to fend for themselves.
Research from 22 European countries indicated that children going back to school had not been harmful to pupils, teachers of families. Most youngsters don’t appear to suffer or pass on coronavirus and teachers are more at risk in their local supermarket. This isn’t opinion, it’s science. This hideous virus is causing havoc and heartache now. But unless we stop playing politics it’ll be the generations to come who will really suffer.
With the right education and amazing, inspirational teachers, even the poorest youngsters can achieve extraordinary things – maybe becoming the scientists and doctors of the future.
The world needs heroes. Teachers make them.
‘This isn’t opinion, it’s science’