Pressure is mounting on the government to close schools during the month long lockdown in England.
The #CloseSchoolsNow hashtag on Twitter is trending and thousands of unhappy parents and teachers are commenting demanding that the Prime Minister and the government urgently review the decision to keep schools open during the lockdown.
National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “It is clear from ONS data that schools are an engine for virus transmission.
“It would be self-defeating for the Government to impose a national lockdown, whilst ignoring the role of schools as a major contributor to the spread of the virus.
“Such a lockdown would impose pain on the whole community, but not be as effective as it could be if schools were included.
“Ignoring the role of schools and colleges in the spread of the virus is likely to lead to the need for even longer lockdowns in future.”
However, government officials are defending the decision to keep schools open with Michael Gove telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that the government was doing ‘all it could’ to keep schools safe and open and that he rejected suggestions that keeping schools open would result in a longer lockdown.
