Children and staff have been trying to follow social distancing rules but teachers say there has been a 50-fold increase in infectionsUnions representing heads and teachers have clashed over whether schools should stay open during the four-week lockdown being debated in parliament. The National Education Union (NEU), the largest education union with more than 450,000 members including teachers and support staff, said that they had seen a fiftyfold increase in Covid-19 cases at secondary schools. Unions representing head teachers, however, have welcomed the move to keep schools open. All groups have called for greater clarity, particularly over the potential introduction of a rota system to allow groups of pupils to attend at different times. Gove says that England's lockdown may last beyond December 2Since the NEU issued a call for closures over the weekend, it said that 150,000 members had joined the campaign.

Source: The Times November 02, 2020 17:03 UTC