With the COVID-19 lockdown UK, parents face weeks of uncertainty.
Just a few days before children were supposed to return to school, local authorities decided to delay opening schools.
Parents were confused and upset as local officials all over the country delayed the opening of schools in the face of rising COVID-19 infection rates. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said that more schools could be shut in the coming weeks due to the COVID-19 lockdown UK.
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School shutdown due to the COVID-19 lockdown UK
On the day where millions of children and students are set to return to their schools following the UK COVID-19 lockdown, the Essex council said that they would all together close schools to most students until at least Wednesday.
The Kent county council even joined England's largest education authority in Birmingham in asking the officials to allow schools to stay closed.
They said that they should continue with the UK COVID-19 lockdown, and the debate for reopening classes despite the high rates of the virus does not make sense.
The response on the shutdown
In Newcastle, Gateshead, and Manchester, officials also support primary schools if they will not decide to reopen fully. In some schools in Slough, they have already confirmed that they will not reopen schools this week. In Brighton and Hove, the council has already advised schools not to return in person except for those at risk and key workers' children.
Such moves came as Labour called for a COVID-19 lockdown UK within the 24 hours, warning that the said virus was out of control. Keir
Starmer, the party leader, while stopping short of calling for all schools to close, said that it was certain that more would need to close.
Such comments by Starmer came after Johnson warned that the UK COVID-19 lockdown rules were about to get harder and admit that closing of schools could be a part of measures to put an end to the rising rates of infections.
COVID-19 in the UK
Recently, official figures showed that there are more than 54,990 confirmed cases of the virus in the UK and 454 more deaths.
Despite this, the prime minister still urged parents to send their children to schools this week. He said that he understands their worries, but there is no doubt in his mind that schools are safe and that education is also a prime concern.
UK's education sector
On the other hand, the Department of Education is getting ready for more remote learning and said that they expect to give out more than 50,000 laptops and tablets to schools on Monday and more than 100,000 in total during the first week of the term.
Before this, the government was called out for failing to give out laptops and other things needed by those deprived and poor children during the first lockdown.
Aside from matters concerning the reopening of schools and the preparations that they are doing for possible continuation of remote learning, the government has also been called upon to quickly rethink their approach when it comes to the exams.
On Sunday, Johnson said for the first time that A-levels and GCSEs may not take place in England this summer. He said that they need to be realistic when it comes to the pace at which this new variant of the virus has spread. Also, he said that they have to be humble in the face of such virus.
