It shames this nation that British children are being denied an education
School scandal IT shames this nation that British children are being denied an education. We sympathise with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson: militant teaching unions playing politics are determined to make his life hell. And given the limit on space in schools, his hands are tied by the two-metre social distancing rule. But leaving kids to […]
School scandal
IT shames this nation that British children are being denied an education.
We sympathise with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson: militant teaching unions playing politics are determined to make his life hell.
And given the limit on space in schools, his hands are tied by the two-metre social distancing rule.
But leaving kids to flounder at home between mid-March and September (at the earliest) simply isn’t good enough.
Children learn more than grammar and algebra at school.
They learn how to make friends, work in groups and speak to adults — and a multitude of other essential life skills besides.
For thousands, school also provides a much-needed escape from traumatic home lives: as new NSPCC statistics show, child abusers run riot when kids can’t get out of the house.
We’d understand the decision to keep classrooms closed if there was evidence that children are coronavirus superspreaders.
But more than a month’s worth of data from other countries shows the exact opposite: sending kids back to school hasn’t caused a Covid spike anywhere.
Which is why the Government must do everything in its power to get classrooms open NOW.
If that means scrapping two-metre social distancing, so be it.
Swathes of evidence from Denmark and Austria — which swapped two metres for one metre weeks ago — show there’s very little difference between the two.
If it means turning village halls and unused offices into schools, or an ugly fight with teaching unions — fine.
Whatever it takes to stop a generation of British kids being thrown on the scrapheap of life MUST be done. And fast.
Plane sense
WE always said the two-week quarantine plan was mad.
So it’s great news that the PM has had a rethink and is now on a mission to get air bridges up and running.
Our creaking aviation industry needs all the help it can get if it is to weather this storm.
And allowing travel in and out of the UK will prove that post-Brexit Britain is open for business.
What a relief, too, that the change of heart has come in time to save our summer holidays.
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Animal magic
IN record time, The Sun has WON our campaign to get zoos open.
It’s great news for animal lovers, for vital conservation projects funded by ticket sales — and for exhausted parents, who now have a new way to entertain bored offspring.
And because zoos are mainly outdoors, it’s vanishingly unlikely that visits will spark a spike in infections.
Thank you for seeing sense, Prime Minister.
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