JUST one in every 100 kids went to school last week as terrified parents kept their offspring away during the Covid outbreak.
Ministers had expected around 20 per cent of pupils to carry on at school, which have stayed open for vulnerable kids and the offspring of key workers.
But even during the first week of the lockdown just 3 per cent of children pitched up to class.
And as the death toll climbed the numbers dwindled, with just 84,000 children in school last Friday.
This is around 0.9 per cent of the number of pupils normally at school in England.
Then numbers have sparked alarm in Whitehall and fuelled fears parents may refuse to send their children back to school even when the lockdown eases.
A petition set up by the National Education Union (NEU) calling for schools to not be fully reopened “before it is safe to do so” has been signed by nearly 170,000 people.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU, said: “We think it’s clear that some parents aren’t sending their children to school because they think it is unsafe.
“This makes the point that Government will have to present evidence that a return to schools will be safe.
“In the meantime teachers are working flat out to support vulnerable children and families during school closures.”
Teachers union NASUWT has demanded school staff get faces masks, gloves and other protective equipment before schools are fully reopened.
Meanwhile, there are growing concerns many of the nation’s most vulnerable kids are not getting the support they desperately need as they stay away from the classroom.
HOAR revealed last week that the number of calls to Childline rocketed 300 per cent since the lockdown.
Childline warned that kids cooped up indoors in the lockdown are at greater risk of abuse and neglect.
The latest figures pile pressure on ministers to spell out their plans for how they plan to get schools back up and running fully in the era of social distancing.
