Government accused of ‘turning blind eye’ to harm from classroom face mask policy

The face masks in the classroom policy was never assessed for negative health impacts on children, the Government has admitted.

Public Health England (PHE) has been accused of “turning a blind eye” to the harm that youngsters are being exposed to by wearing masks for up to eight hours a day.

The watchdog claimed the government “did not consider any potential disbenefits of the policy” prior to introducing it.

“It beggars belief that the Government has recommended secondary school children wear face coverings for up to eight hours a day without the usual rigour of an public health intervention imposed on a healthy population,

“There is increasing evidence of masks being harmful to children’s health, welfare and impacting on their ability to learn, develop and communicate,” said Christine Brett, co-founder of the parent campaign group UsForThem.

When the Prime Minister announced in February that when schools returned on March 8 pupils would be required to wear face masks anywhere indoors where they could not socially distance, including in classrooms.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, has faced two legal challenges over the guidance on face masks in the classroom.

The first, from the National Deaf Children’s Society, argued that the guidance on face masks was “unlawful, irrational and inconsistent” with his legal duties.

The second, from UsForThem, said there was “no credible scientific evidence” to support the policy, which raises “serious questions of children’s health” as well as being “deleterious to their education”.

The Government’s lawyers said that relaxing the requirement for children to wear masks “would be unpopular” and could bring on a drop in school attendance.