Fingerpointing over school closures is a reminder of the collective failure at the heart of the then government
The fingerpointing between the former Prime Minister and his Education Secretary over who is to blame for the failure to plan for school closures during Covid is wholly unedifying.
Last week, the former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson told the inquiry he had not asked Department for Education (DfE) officials to prepare an assessment on the impact of school closures in early 2020, as the advice at the time “was not recommending closures”.
Boris Johnson, however, told the inquiry yesterday that it was “obvious” there would need to be “consideration of closing schools” and “it looked to me as though the DfE was preparing for that”.
The reality is that this was a collective failing of the then-government that not only put lives at risk but also set back the education of young people.
The lack of leadership during one of this country’s gravest crises in recent years was truly appalling.
However, the fingerpoint cannot distract the country from learning lessons from the mishandling of the Covid crisis by the Tory government.
It was an unprecedented event and no government was ever going to get everything right but instead of decisive science-led action, the country was greeted with chaos and confusion.
The legacy of Covid is going to be with the country for some time to come. The failure to equip schools properly during the closures led to many children falling even further behind than they otherwise would have. We can only hope that lessons from this dark chapter are learned from and should another crisis ever arise, the education system is better equipped to deal with disruption.