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Schools are now having to close classes due to the high levels of Covid that are running through year groups. When the government came up with the slogan "putting children first", is this what they meant?
That's the question of a teacher on the frontline, who wished to remain anonymous...
Schools are now having to close classes due to the high levels of Covid that are running through year groups. When the government came up with the slogan "putting children first", is this what they meant? Placing unprotected children in the direct path of covid, with a variant that little is known about, with no knowledge of the long-term effects?
Our children deserve better than this.
Pictured: "Has there been fast tracked PCR testing for children? Have young teachers been prioritised for vaccination compared to a visiting rugby team of a similar age?"
This shameful approach has left many children exhausted after a long academic year, in trying circumstances, with the prospect of being ill and isolating as they finally reach the summer holidays at the end of the year.
The symptoms may not manifest themselves in the same way as elderly adults, but the children will be aware of the impact on others around them with this disease, after a year of news in the media. They will be frightened and they will be worried about their health and those of their friends and family around them.
We do not know what the long-term effects on them will be, with this variant, with reports that Long Covid affects one in five of those that have had the disease.
Has the Government put in any additional preventative measures? Has the Government put in any additional protective measures for schools to follow in terms of adjusted risk assessments for these higher levels of risk? Has there been fast tracked PCR testing for children? Have young teachers been prioritised for vaccination compared to a visiting rugby team of a similar age?
The answer is no.
Pictured: "The lost time in class in the final days of this academic year, where assessments are still taking place and learning is still occurring reflects that the Government does not put children first..."
The risk assessments have been getting looser and looser, allowing more normalised behaviour, even at a time of heightened cases. This combined with releasing direct contacts back into the school community has just created the perfect conditions for an inevitable rise in cases.
The Government knew that there would be a sharp increase in cases before the end of the school year; was this a deliberate policy? Students and their young unvaccinated teachers have been the unwilling participants in a strategic attempt to spread the disease in schools as a drive for herd immunity, but without the protection that their elders, making up this policy, can afford to have - this is truly shameful.
The lost time in class in the final days of this academic year, where assessments are still taking place and learning is still occurring reflects that the Government does not put children first and has in fact created a situation where children who should be in school are now being deprived of their education and those who have pushed for this in Government should be held responsible for their actions.
A teacher's view from the frontline (15 December 2020)
Quarter of covid cases are schoolchildren (25 June 2021)
Young teaching staff seen as "collateral damage"
Covid pressures see school's staffing hit "critical" again
Emergency Ministerial meeting as covid school situations hits "critical"
