News

Teachers in plea to ministers: 'Get a grip' on Delta variant spread in schools

Government policy Coronavirus Health & Safety
Teachers are pleading with the government to “get a grip” on the spread of the Delta Covid variant in schools as figures show the extent to which localised outbreaks have affected young people.

The “troubling” picture in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen should act as a warning to the rest of the country, the National Education Union (NEU) says.

Attendance figures for May 27 for schools in Bolton, one of the areas at the centre of the Delta variant outbreak, show that 21 per cent of primary pupils and 32 per cent of secondary pupils were absent for Covid-related reasons.

The figures in Blackburn with Darwen, another affected area, were 15 per cent Covid-related absence for primary pupils and 13 per cent for secondary pupils.

This compares to national figures showing that Covid-related absence on May 27 was running at 1.6 per cent in primaries and two per cent in secondaries (DfE, 2021).

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