UNISON, GMB, NASUWT and Unite are urging members to join parents and staff in an online day of action on Thursday 9 December. This is to tell the government to bring in additional mitigations to help keep pupils and staff in England safely in school.
Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that school-aged children have the highest rates of infection of any age group. Data also shows that education staff are more likely to test positive for Covid than the general population. This is leading to unsustainable workload pressures and burnout in schools. Over 200,000 pupils were absent for Covid-19 related reasons on 25 November alone according to the Department for Education; with warnings that it could get much worse in January. This cannot be allowed to continue.
Why not tweet/post messages of support (some example tweets are listed below) and copy in the Secretary of State @nadhimzahawi
Example tweets
- We need to help keep pupils safe and help keep them in school. We need air filters for schools #ProtectPupils #ProtectEducation
- The Government must act to protect face to face learning – we need to ensure proper ventilation in all schools #ProtectPupils #ProtectEducation
- Pupils have suffered enough disruption from #Covid. I’m calling on the Government to make schools safer and increase catch-up funding #ProtectPupils #ProtectEducation
- The Government must act now to protect pupils’ education and health. We need ventilation, vaccines and stronger rules on face coverings #ProtectPupils #ProtectEducation
- The Government must act to stop the spread of #Covid in schools – proper ventilation, face coverings in classrooms in secondary and full pay for parents needing to isolate #ProtectPupils #ProtectEducation
