'Show us the evidence' plea as mask wearing returns in England's secondary schools

The Government has been urged to "set out the evidence" for the return of mask-wearing by children attending secondary school.
Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Outwood Academy in Woodlands, Doncaster in Yorkshire in March 2021.Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Outwood Academy in Woodlands, Doncaster in Yorkshire in March 2021.
Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Outwood Academy in Woodlands, Doncaster in Yorkshire in March 2021.

Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chairman of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, said he was worried about a possible negative impact of making masks compulsory for children in secondary schools.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has said the Government is recommending face coverings are worn in secondary school classrooms and teaching spaces for the coming weeks as part of the efforts to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant. Mr Zahawi said the move was part of efforts to "maximise the number of children in school and college for the maximum amount of time".

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Mr Halfon told the Sunday Telegraph: “The Government needs to supply the evidence. If masks are not required in offices or restaurants, why are we getting young kids to put them on?”

In a further interview with Times Radio, he said: “I do worry about the mask policy. The children’s minister came to my committee and said there was very limited evidence as to the efficacy of masks in educational settings.

Jonathan Van-Tam, hugely respected, the deputy chief medical officer, said that they could be quite inhibitory to the natural expressions of learning in children, the national Children’s Deaf Society has tweeted out their big reservations about mask policy, and what I worry about is the effect that masks have on children’s wellbeing, mental health and anxiety, and we already know that lockdown was a huge spike in children’s mental health problems.

He added: “So what I’d like the Government to do is set out why they’re doing this, set out the evidence in the House of Commons.

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“I think there will be a statement on Tuesday, but I do worry masks in schools will have a negative impact.”

But Dr Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), disagreed with concerns about possible negative mental health effects of making masks compulsory in secondary schools.

She told Times Radio: “Robert Halfon says it has a significant mental health effect. So I would really want to see the study that shows that.

“We have mask-wearing in secondary schools in Wales and Scotland, and I don’t think that it is causing a huge problem.

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“Secondary school pupils wear masks in corridors and hallways and surely, Robert Halfon has been, you know, campaigning hard, quite rightly, to keep schools open.

“Schools are crowded buildings. Even in secondary only just under half the pupils have been vaccinated. And we know that mask-wearing does have an effect of suppressing transmission.”

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said he would rather have masks worn in classrooms than children out of school.

Asked about the Government’s decision to ask older students to wear face coverings in class again, he told Sky News: “I think in terms of schools, if the choice is between having masks at schools or children missing schools in huge numbers, of course we want to keep pupils learning. That’s got to be the priority.

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“I think there are two things, though, that the Government can and should be doing. The first is on testing. Pupils should be testing twice a week. There’s lots of evidence to suggest that hasn’t been happening properly.

“So the message for Government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.

“And my message to parents and pupils is ‘do take the tests’ because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.”

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