SAGE scientists urge PM to impose an even stricter third national lockdown including closing schools

The government’s SAGE scientists have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose an even stricter third national lockdown that would include keeping all schools closed throughout January as a means of curbing the ‘new’ mutant coronavirus strain. This suggestion has been slammed by some as it would be likely to consign millions of children to sub-standard remote learning for at least a month.   

Michael Gove has confirmed that only children in years 11 and 13, and those with key worker parents, will return to school as usual from Monday. However, primary schools are currently expected to open as usual.

Gove has sparked fears that secondary schools could remain closed for longer than a week. This came after he admitted that the plan to reopen as usual on the 11th of January is already ‘under review’. This came against the backdrop of rumours that students in Tier 4 could be learning remotely until the mid-February half-term.   

Mr Gove has said: ‘We do keep things under review, and we will be talking to headteachers and teachers in the next 24 and 48 hours just to make sure that our plans which of course are accompanied by community testing are right and robust. It is our intention to make sure we can get children back to school as early as possible. But we all know that there are trade-offs’. 

UNN’s Oliver Down understands that the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will be imminently beginning crunch talks with headteachers and unions today about reopening schools in January. Boris Johnson is coming under pressure from his own party to keep all pupils in school at the start the new term, so the PM is likely to encounter a vice like squeeze in the coming days.

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