CAMPAIGNERS and MPs hit out yesterday at Boris Johnson’s decision to delay reopening schools — warning of a disaster for kids’ education.
Children have already missed at least 111 school days out of a possible 190 since last March’s first Covid lockdown.
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The Prime Minister scrapped plans to get them back to class after the February half-term, with March 8 now the earliest return date instead.
The announcement sparked widespread dismay, with calls to at least get primary school children back earlier.
Campaigners warned being stuck at home was damaging kids’ educational prospects and well-being.
In a stormy Commons session, Tory MP Joy Morrissey said: “As a mother of a nine-year-old, I can see young children are struggling and their cognitive development is determined at this age.
“We’re storing up a lifetime of problems of anxiety, mental health, obesity by having all of our young primary-aged children at home.
“Please may I urge the Prime Minister to have courage in these final months to bring children, particularly primary-aged children, back to school as quickly as possible.”
Ex-health minister Steve Brine demanded to know why we had to wait until March 8, “given we all agree and he has said today at the despatch box that schools are safe?”
The PM insisted he was desperate for them to reopen but March 8 “is about as fast as we think we can prudently go”.
He added that the country “would want them open in a cautious and sensible way”.
The Prime Minister also admitted it could take up to a year for children to catch up on the education they have missed.
He told MPs: “We recognise these extended school closures have had a huge impact on children’s learning, which will take more than a year to make up.”
“The reason we say 8 March is the earliest is we have to give a certain amount of time for the vaccine to bed in.”
He added: “We also need to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine in driving down the number of deaths, and we won’t know that until the middle of February.”
The PM promised to start setting out a path out of lockdown by the end of February, but warned nothing will unlock for at least another 40 days. It also depends on cases falling and a smooth vaccine roll-out.
He told MPs: “Schools are the priority — they remain the priority.
“If we make progress and those conditions continue to be satisfied, then we will be looking simultaneously at the other restrictions we have.
“If we achieve our target of vaccinating everyone in the four most vulnerable groups with their first dose by 15 February — and every passing day sees more progress towards that goal — then those groups will have developed immunity from the virus by about three weeks later, that is by 8 March.
