Main article image: Lack of state support for school students and staff provoked protests and pickets in France
On 4 January 2021, after insisting millions of children and staff at reopened primary schools attend and mix, potentially spreading the virus to family members and wider communities, Boris Johnson announced yet another inevitable U-turn. In the face of increasing infection rates and the threat of the NHS being overwhelmed, Johnson announced a national lockdown with schools ‘closed’ until mid-February at the earliest, and the last-minute cancellation of exams. Schools were left scrambling to try to implement a plan for remote learning with no time to prepare. Under pressure, the latest government directive is that schools will not fully reopen until 8 March at the earliest. Meanwhile the fundamental problems facing the state education system – underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, filling the gaps for cuts in children’s mental health and other services – are only accelerating under the pressure of the pandemic. RUBY MOST and LOUIS BREHONY report.
The cover-up before Christmas
The government has been pushing for schools to remain open under immense pressure to close them, due to alarmingly high levels of transmission. On 14 December 2020, health secretary Matt Hancock announced the presence of a new, potentially 50-70% more infectious strain of Covid-19, which had first been identified as far back as September. This mutant strain is an indictment of the abject failure of the British capitalist government and system to suppress the pandemic – it is more likely that mutations will occur when there are such high levels of infection.
On 22 December, government scientists told ministers that if schools remained open it was ‘highly unlikely’ that the level of infection could be contained at an R rate below one, especially due to the new variant. Only after facing legal challenges from councils and headteachers associations, and after education and teaching unions advised members to use their legal right not to work in an unsafe work environment, did the government finally call for schools to close as part of a national ‘lockdown’. Just one day earlier, Johnson appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show instructing parents to ‘absolutely’ send their children to school the next day.
Still no Covid-safety in schools
Since 4 January, no real action has been taken to provide a ‘Covid-secure’ environment in schools. Despite official guidance stating that workers should work from home wherever possible, according to Department for Education (DfE) data for 13 January 50% of teachers in primary schools, 24% in secondary schools and 62% in special schools were working on site. Lower paid teaching assistants are even more likely to be working on-site in schools: 57% in primaries, 36% in secondaries and 58% in special schools.
The government continually asserts that schools have been made ‘Covid-secure’ throughout the pandemic and claims that school staff are no more exposed to the virus than the general population. This is a blatant lie: according to estimates by the National Education Union (NEU), teachers in primary and secondary schools had an average infection rate of 1.9 times higher than the general population, and for teachers working in special schools the rate was two times higher. For teaching assistants, the rate was three times higher than the general population and almost seven times higher for support staff in special schools.
Although in Scotland, Wales and the north of Ireland schools have been told that students should wear masks in shared areas, there is to date no advice for schools in England. Schools have been told not to limit numbers of pupils attending, leaving many staff working in cramped enclosed spaces with 20 or more children, without the possibility of social distancing.
Nurseries and childcare provision are still fully open for the youngest children who cannot socially distance. Nurseries are allocated funding based on how many pupils attend, incentivising them to stay fully open regardless of the risk. Though supposedly parents can be furloughed in order to look after their children at home, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found 71% of such requests made by working mothers were refused. This has had disastrous impacts on working class women, many of whom have lost their jobs or taken unpaid leave to care for their children. Low-paid nursery staff, the vast majority of whom are also women, do not have access to PPE, testing, or priority access to vaccination.
Five times more pupils are attending school compared to the first ‘lockdown’ according to DfE statistics for 13 January. This is partly due to an extensive list of over 40 roles which are now classified as ‘critical workers’ and many parents being forced by their bosses to come into non-essential workplaces. Covid-19 outbreaks in workplaces increased by nearly 70% in the first week of the new lockdown. While working class individuals face police harassment, arrest and fines for perceived rule-breaking, not one company has been prosecuted for breaking Covid-19 safety laws.
Fight for funding, fight for safe schools
The British government, like all capitalist governments, is ultimately being driven towards ‘re-opening’ the economy, which necessitates state schools being open to as many children as possible. The compromise position of sending most children home, whilst doing nothing to fund the necessary measures in school to allow social distancing, enhanced cleaning and other safety measures alongside a decent provision of home learning, has been a disaster for school staff, working class families, and children.
Poor working class children are being told to attend school if they do not have access to a device or the internet for online learning. This situation is the fault of another government project which successfully enriches big businesses and Tory donors while failing to fulfil its alleged aim. Nearly £100m in government contracts have been given to Computacenter Ltd for the supply of laptops and routers. The company was co-founded by a Conservative Party donor. The Learning in Lockdown report by the Sutton Trust published 21 January, found that two thirds of senior leaders in state schools are having to ‘source IT equipment for disadvantaged pupils themselves’ because they still have not received laptops from the government.
So far, education unions have been more interested in appearing ‘responsible’ to the government than acting to defend the working class; opting for legalistic, individual and charitable acts over industrial action. What is really needed – proper funding to allow for more outdoor space, hiring more staff to allow smaller class sizes etc –are all things which state schools already badly needed before the pandemic hit. It is more urgent than ever that we organise to win these demands.
