Just listened to Gavin Williamson on BBC Breakfast about school closures.
So, he’s shutting them all down except for children whose parents are “ key workers”, children who are vulnerable because of child protection issues( proved or not, according to him) and special schools. All these schools will be open over the upcoming Easter holidays , too. Apparently , legislation will be put before Parliament very soon to do this.
Hang on, mister, who are you asking to make this work? In two working days to start on Monday?
So “ key workers’” kids will be decided, apart from the obvious, by head teachers.
Decisions will be made , he’s not clear how, about whether those kids will go to the same schools they are at now or “ hub “ schools . If it’s not the same, how do they get there and back? How is their work transferred ? How do they pick up their work with teachers they don’t know and who don’t know them? How is the risk they pose as symptomless virus carriers managed?
Oh, don’t worry the heads will sort it. In two days. The heads who have been saying for years that they can’t even run their own schools properly because of chronic underfunding . Where from? Ten years of Tory austerity.
Need them now, don’t we?
And why are teachers, who almost certainly have at least one of babies/ elderly parents / pregnant wives at home , who are all in a high risk category, expected to juggle all of this and put themselves on the line when they are already working at full stretch? And then take the virus home? They can barely cope with a normal teaching load, which isn’t normal anyway because of the massive underfunding from ten years of Tory austerity.
Need them now, don’t you?
Those schools are going to stay open during the Easter holidays. Eh? How? Presumably the staff can be forced to do this. When , if they are not sick or self isolating , they need that rest to recharge ? But they can’t have it.
Need them now, don’t we?
Special schools. These look after incredibly fragile children and if these kids have an EHCP , they can stay at school. They often require very high levels of staffing, Williamson was saying the law will be changed so this is no longer a requirement. So, doesn’t this put them at risk at school?
And, unlike most kids ,they are much more vulnerable to the consequences infection but will be exposed to it daily when staff come in , possibly after having been on public transport , from living in a household where the staff’s own family might be unseen carriers , where the other kids who go to the same school will bring their myriad of germs in . Wtf?
Oh, and where’s all the support that they had in the past at home? Constantly eroded and eventually completely cut by a a Tory government who doesn’t think they need it! Till now. When it no longer exists .
And their teachers? Why are they deliberately being exposed to these risks and their families are dispensable when everyone else is told to self distance?
Oh , don’t worry says Gavin. Teaching staff will work closely with the Health Service and Local Authorities to manage all this. Oh yeah, they’re sitting around waiting for a job like this as they are so bored ! Er, the same agencies that have been on their knees for years, imploding as all the welfare stare collapses around them after ten years of deliberate targeted underfunding by a Tory government. These resources do not exist.
Need them now, don’t we?
I could say the same about the NHS, the police, the fire brigade, the military, social worker, prison officers.. on and on. And everybody who has been forced to work on shitty contracts and so can’t look after their own kids and keep food on the table at the same time.
The Tories have shat all over all these dedicated people from a great height for ten years and now they need them to rescue us . And we all know that , as always , they will do their best. But it absolutely stinks.
Maybe there is such a thing as society?
