Covid-19: Keep schools shut, council leaders urge
Councils again find themselves in the eye of the storm having to put forward local common sense and sentiment in the debate about the need to think very carefully about the role of schools in spreading the more virulent form of the virus. This article shows how some big rural players in Kent and Cumbria are leading the charge it tells us:
More councils in England are calling on the government to delay the reopening of primary schools amid rising cases of Covid-19.
Local authorities in Wolverhampton, Cumbria and Kent are now asking for a delay to the start of term on Monday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC parents should send their children to schools where they were open.
Some schools announced on Sunday they would remain closed after teachers said they felt it was unsafe to go in.
Mr Johnson told BBC One’s Andrew Marr the risk to children was “very, very low” and the benefit of education was “so huge”.
He added that while school closures would be kept “under constant review”, the government would be “driven by public health considerations and by the massive importance of education”.
Teaching unions have called for remote learning and some head teachers have begun legal action to force ministers to reveal data behind the decision for most schools to reopen.