Children return to school on Monday and reports have emerged that they will be kept apart from friends and fellow pupils if they refuse to wear a mask. Many parents have criticised the reported plans with one parent calling it ‘mask apartheid’.
It was announced last week that all secondary school pupils will have to wear masks in any non-socially distanced settings as part of Boris Johnson’s ‘roadmap’ out of England’s third lockdown. UNN’s Oliver Down understands that, whilst masks and regular testing are being strongly encouraged, they are not legal requirements and students should not be ‘denied education’ through failure to comply.
However, some schools are planning to clamp down on those students who don’t comply by separating students who refuse to wear a mask. Stonehenge School in Amesbury has sent a letter home to parents that said: ‘Students who do not wear face coverings may be asked to sit near open doors or windows and must understand that their peers may not wish to sit with or work with them’. Warwick School in Redhill has told parents ‘alternative arrangements’ would be made for students who do not wear a mask.
Some parents have reacted angrily to these developments. One said: ‘I am appalled and feel blackmailed into accepting these measures so that my children can partake in exercise, class learning and their social groups at school’.
Allyson Pollock who is a professor of public health at the Newcastle University has said: ‘This is not informed consent, its coercion and other harms are emerging as a result – psychological trauma, isolation, segregation stigmatising children and it’s a form of abuse and harassment and intimidation of children and parents’.
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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