Another furious letter

Michael Gove and Gavin Williamson are both eager for children to be back in school this term, and Michael Gove is insisting that local authorities look to their responsibilities and re-open their schools.

If only it was as simple as that, and if only the government could be trusted with our children’s well-being.

Local authorities and schools have a responsibility to meet children’s needs, and to keep children safe from harm. Harm may result from more than the virus alone. Does the government have any evidence that small children will suffer no harm from a largely asocial school experience at a stage when socialisation is a large and integral part of the educational process ? Can the government reassure teachers and parents that all surfaces and equipment handled by children can be guaranteed virus-free before the next day’s use ? Can Mr Gove be certain that children’s anxieties will not be increased by such a strange and unfamiliar education as they are likely to get ?

“We are confident that children and teachers will be safe,” says Mr Gove. What is the basis for this assertion ? Mr Gove’s confidence is built on guesswork rather than facts. It is the same confidence that sacrificed the elderly in care homes to shield the NHS, the same confidence that testing was not necessary when the infection started, the same confidence that NHS staff could continue working safely without PPE, rewarded by clapping rather than by decent pay and conditions.

If the government’s record had not resulted in the highest death rate in Europe, and the complete lack of care for key workers of all kinds, I might feel more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt on our children’s safety. At the moment, Williamson and Gove are talking in the same terms that must have been used by nineteenth century mill owners, determined that parents should hand over their children to useful employment. They are gambling with children’s lives on the basis of their meretricious ability to make guesses sound convincing. Until such time as they assemble some relevant coherent facts, we should reject the bet, and schools should remain closed until they can be guaranteed safe.