(UTV | UNITED KINGDOM) – The United Kingdom (UK) Government is trying to reassure people that schools in England will be safe to reopen fully in September.
Social Care Minister Helen Whately told BBC that the Government wants to keep schools open in the event of local lockdowns, adding that staff and pupils will “Immediately have access to testing” if they show symptoms.
Schools in local lockdown areas such as Manchester and Leicester “Should be still going back” in September as it is “Essential that children get back into schools this autumn term”, she adds.
Parents and teachers “Have made huge efforts to keep children’s education going” during lockdown, it’s “Just not the same thing” as children being in school, Whately says.
Asked about the possibility of teaching students on a week-on, week-off basis for areas with localised lockdown restrictions, she adds: “Our priority is to make sure that children are fully back in school come the autumn.”