the government is coming under intense
pressure to scrap plans
to reopen primary schools in england on
monday due to fears over the spread of
the new variant of the coronavirus
the uk's largest teaching union says its
members shouldn't go back to work
and head teachers are taking legal
action to force the government to
explain why it thinks it's safe to
reopen primaries
outside london and parts of the south
east the department for education says
schools will implement appropriate
safety measures
to help mitigate the risk of
transmission here's our education
correspondent dan johnson
children and teachers were amongst those
invited for tests at charlton's football
ground today
one way to help keep the virus out of
schools but will it be enough
some think things are out of control and
they want schools to stay closed
teaching unions say staff are at risk we
know that our members of our union got
sick
some of them died over the christmas
period so there is the concern for our
members
there's also the concern for parents and
grandparents and we don't think it's
safe we think there should be
a period of closure to get those cases
down
london's primary school children will
all stay off after a u-turn ended the
patchwork of partial closures
so harrison's got a fortnight at home
we're not going back to school
and we're going to have to do home
learning what do you think about that
not very good because i want to see my
friends and mom and dad
have the challenge of finding childcare
it all seems very
last minute really and it's all very
confusing and they keep
chopping and changing which makes it
very hard to plan
teachers are also being tested in
liverpool tier three where schools are
due to open
although scientists advised closures
could help reduce the spread of the
virus
officials say there's no evidence scores
themselves aren't safe
i don't feel they should close because i
feel just as safe
in school as i would do anywhere i feel
the children have missed a lot of
education as it is
the new strain has come out and what
we're seeing happening in london
was how like it was happening with us we
all clicked you know we had the extra
testing brought in earlier on london
didn't now they're closing i think we
should all be just doing the same
i don't feel like they should stay
closed our rate's a lot lower isn't it
and the school that i work at and the
head teacher there she's amazing
and she's put everything in place to
protect
staff parents and children but in some
parts of the country
council leaders are now calling for
their schools to stay
shut we've had a sharp increase in the
cases
we'll be approaching at 500 per 100 000
people in the next few days and that's
following the pattern of the places
that have already been told that the
primary schools should remain closed
there's now a legal challenge to see the
government's basis for reopening primary
schools on monday
in wales and northern ireland the return
was already delayed a week
in scotland it's two weeks there is a
lot for the government to consider here
the rising transmission rates the
pressure on the nhs
and the demographics in different
communities it's always said keeping
children off school
would be a last resort but there is
growing pressure to extend these
closures beyond
london and parts of the south east and
teachers
are calling for decisions to be made
quickly but clearly
a phased return is planned for england's
secondary schools starting a week on
monday
with the hope that mass testing will
limit disruption and minimise online
learning
despite the downsides of that it's
already a reality for many children
and possibly beyond the next two weeks
dan johnson bbc news
in south east london our political
correspondent chris mason is here with
me uh chris we've had reversals
of policy in the pandemic on education
before
are we likely to see another u-turn in
this regard as you say clive president
suggests that that is entirely possible
and there are two factors tonight which
point to the fact that the government
isn't entirely in control of what
happens next
firstly local authorities as we heard
there making their own minds up so we
saw the decision taken in brighton
birmingham city council saying they will
support head teachers
who decide to move learning to a to to
remote to being
done remotely for the next couple of
weeks so firstly local authorities
secondly teaching unions they are
meeting this weekend they are
coordinating their actions
the national education union the biggest
of them all saying well
you know maybe maybe the solution here
is
what has to happen is teachers simply
have to say we shouldn't go in
it's not safe to be working in a
conventional classroom
setting so put those two things together
and even if the government is saying as
it is look our default position is
schools
should open will that actually happen
will their hand eventually be forced the
reality is there are no easy decisions
here
and i think we're in for a bumpy few
weeks as far as schools opening and then
closing and then potentially reopening
is concerned sure okay chris thank you
chris mason