End schools dither and delay today Prime Minister – The Yorkshire Post says

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson during a pre-lockdown visit to a school.Education Secretary Gavin Williamson during a pre-lockdown visit to a school.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson during a pre-lockdown visit to a school.
IF BORIS Johnson is to read one briefing paper today – and the Prime Minister has conceded that he does not read every document in his red box – it it is the incisive and agenda-setting opinion piece that Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner, has written for The Yorkshire Post.

Excruciating in her criticism of dithering Ministers for an inadequate response thus far, it sets out the measures that must be taken now so every pupil can return to school in September – the key national objective.

And given how the PM is reluctant to set up a task force, he should use Ms Longfield’s blueprint as the basis for a national programme of action – it could be called the Nightingale Schools – to galvanise the country.

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Crucial to ensuring that a generation of young people do not see their life chances suffer any more than necessary as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, every day wasted now will make it harder to complete Ms Longfield’s mission by September.

Is the Government doing enough to support pupils during the lockdown?Is the Government doing enough to support pupils during the lockdown?
Is the Government doing enough to support pupils during the lockdown?

Yes, schools should be encouraged to open now if they can, but it should be left to their discretion and local circumstances. Instead Ministers need to be concentrating their efforts on achieving the September start-date by commissioning temporary buildings, putting in the technology to assist teachers and asking former school staff to return to the classroom in the way that ex-NHS staff have done.

But, please, don’t  alienate and offend teachersany more by expecting them to give up their summer break. They, too, are individuals – key workers – who have been left exhausted by this crisis. Work with them Mr Johnson – they’re not the enemy – and you might begin to understand what the teaching profession does for all children and, specifically, the most vulnerable whose long-term futures are now at most risk if the Government does not act decisively in the short-term.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

Anne Longfield is the Children's Commissioner.Anne Longfield is the Children's Commissioner.
Anne Longfield is the Children's Commissioner.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

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