Use the pandemic to close the disadvantage gap in our schools - The Yorkshire Post says

THE necessity of getting children back to school as soon as possible is given new emphasis today by the Institute for Fiscal Studies report on the profoundly disturbing long-term impact of months away from the classroom.

Lost schooling could cost a generation of children £350bn in earnings over the course of their lifetimes, a staggering sum in itself, and one which underlines the potential damage the pandemic has inflicted on their prospects for the future.

This must not be allowed to happen. The IFS makes the telling point that against the scale of the damage done by school closures, the Government’s plan to spend £1.5bn on helping children catch up simply does not go far enough, given that the cost of half a year’s schooling amounts to £30bn.

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Boris Johnson’s target of March 8 for reopening schools cannot come soon enough for children and their parents. Despite their best efforts to home-school, assisted by the hard work of teachers offering support online, there can be no doubt that many pupils have both fallen behind in their education and suffered emotional consequences as a result of being separated from friends.

Calls for schools to reopen as soon as possible have been made.Calls for schools to reopen as soon as possible have been made.
Calls for schools to reopen as soon as possible have been made.

One way to ensure that deadline is met would be the immediate vaccination of teachers and other schools staff, which at present rates of inoculation could be achieved in a matter of days, thus ensuring classrooms could open with the minimum risk of driving up rates of infection.

The importance of getting schools open again cannot be overstated, for the welfare of children and parents alike. Lord Jim O’Neill, of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership is correct in asserting that the pandemic has widened the existing disadvantage gap in education.

The Government must act to close it, and commit whatever funds are necessary to prevent children’s lives being blighted for years ahead.

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