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In the first full admission from a minister that the life chances of a generation were torpedoed by two years of absenteeism, Nadhim Zahawi said pupils needed desperately to be, and stay, in school. Speaking to the Daily Express after his predecessor and architect of the fiasco was knighted, he added: “I suspect one thing we won’t need an inquiry to tell us is it was a mistake to go to home learning.
“Keeping kids in education must always be a priority and going forward it is absolutely a priority both from the Prime Minister and me.”
To widespread derision, the former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was made a sir despite a shambles that led to A-levels and GCSEs being cancelled and the use of calculated grades for two years. Some pubs reopened before some schools.
Father-of-three Mr Zahawi, 54, said: “I will fight very hard… to make sure we always remain open as we learn to live with Covid. The damage to young people, especially in terms of their wellbeing, and education [has been significant].
“Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza did a brilliant survey of children and young people in which 500,000 responded… overwhelmingly they wanted to be back at school.They cited mental anguish and mental health as the biggest issue with lockdown. “
Schools closed to all except children of key workers and those deemed most vulnerable on March 23, 2020. Institute of Fiscal Studies researchers said that dealt a “monumental blow” to pupils.
Schools in England had two lengthy closures, in 2020 and early last year. Teaching was then hit by social distancing, staff shortages and isolation rules.
National exams will happen this year for the first time since Covid erupted, following teacher assessments in 2020 and 2021. Mr Zahawi said: “To go back to prepandemic levels of grading would have been unfair. We said we would go to the mean – halfway between pre-pandemic grading and teacher assessments – and [in 2023] we will go to pre-pandemic grading.”
The full impact of the disruption may not be apparent for years but experts are convinced it will be significant.
The development of many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds who statistically do less well than better-off classmates, has been hit.
An audit of the social impact of the virus is due to be given by the Office for National Statistics today. Almost 1.8 million pupils missed at least 10 per cent of school time in the autumn term in England. Some have never fully returned.The toll of those missing at least half of class time – 122,000 – is almost twice as high as pre-pandemic levels, the Children’s Commissioner said.
Mr Zahawi said the £5billion educational recovery initiative was the biggest ever, with “500,000 teacher training opportunities”.
“Every kid in the country – wherever they are – will get a quality education.”
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