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'Moral Duty' To Get Children Back Into Classrooms, PM Says

Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Street, London.
Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Street, London.

Boris Johnson has described “a moral duty” to get all children back into classrooms amid indications he would force pubs, restaurants and shops to close ahead of schools in the event of severe coronavirus flare-ups.

The PM is understood to favour only closing schools as the last resort after scientific advisers warned more restrictions may be needed to reopen classrooms in England next month.

Children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield had said the reopening of schools “should be prioritised”, insisting they must be first to reopen and last to close during any reintroduction of restrictions.

But schools minister Nick Gibb said this week that the government cannot “decree” that classroom education would be prioritised, instead saying decisions would be made by local health chiefs.

However, news agency PA reported a No. 10 source saying on Saturday that Johnson’s expectation is that schools would be the last sector to close, with firms being shut first in the event of severe local lockdowns.

“The PM has been clear that businesses including shops, pubs and restaurants should be forced to close first, with schools remaining open for as long as possible,” the source said.

Johnson, writing in the Mail on Sunday, said it is the “national priority” to get all pupils back into classrooms in September after months without in-person education.

“This pandemic isn’t over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become complacent,” he wrote.

“But now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so.”

He warned of the “spiralling economic costs” of parents and carers being unable to work, adding: “Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”

And this was echoed by Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar who wrote in The Observer: “As we head into autumn we will be forced to make tough...

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