DESPERATE parents are urging Boris Johnson to close schools over coronavirus with a petition now signed by nearly 650,000 people.
Children are already staying at home over the crisis, and the Prime Minister is now being urged to change yesterday’s advice to carry on going.
Calling for the Government to “#closetheschools”, the petition comes as it emerges four in ten children are being kept at home by worried parents.
It says: “We would like the government to at least consider closing schools/colleges down in the coming weeks or as soon as possible, in addition to taking necessary actions to prevent further spread.
“We would like the Government or Parliament to enforce this action due to the growing fear among parents and students that attend school.
“The ability to focus or concentrate is affected in addition to the growing fears of the Corona-virus.
“In our view, the government and health officials around the world are more ‘reactive’ rather than ‘proactive’. This will result in more spread as time is given for the virus to do so.”
It comes as the PM said we are engaged in a war against the disease which we have to win.
The PM announced major crackdown rules including:
- Whole families with symptoms such as a cough or a temperature should stay at home for TWO WEEKS to stop spreading it on to anyone else
- From tomorrow, the Government will no longer support mass gatherings either, meaning concerts and all major sporting events are likely to be cancelled
- Pregnant women will be told to avoid social contact with others too – sparking fresh fears for anyone expecting
- The PM refused to rule out drastic curfews like in other countries
- London is at the centre of the outbreak and was ahead of the rest of the country
- Schools will stay open for now – but they will be told to send kids with a cough home to stop the spread
Teachers have also bashed staying open, revealing schools were short on staff and kids were staying home.
Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress of Michaela Community School in Wembley, north-west London, said: “Non-essential contact for everyone except for teachers who should congregate with several hundred or even thousands daily?
“I’m no virologist but how do I make sense of this to staff? Also, dozens/hundreds of parents are too scared to send kids in to school!”
Andrew O’Neill, head teacher of All Saints Catholic College in west London, said the situation was “unbelievable”.
He explained 30 per cent of his pupils had not turned up and a quarter of his teachers were now in self isolation.
Mr O’Neill said: “The supply agencies don’t have people, and do you even want to bring in teachers who have been school-hopping and come into contact with many thousands of people for the last few weeks? It’s crazy.”
Yesterday the PM had insisted the schools should stay open.
Mr Johnson said: “We think at the moment on balance it’s much better if we can keep schools open for all sorts of reasons, but I appreciate this is something we need to keep under review.”
His comments sparked fury, with parents beginning to tweet using the hashtag #covid19walkout.
Kevin Courtney, of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Are teachers being put at unnecessary risk? We need information and we’re not getting it from the Government.”
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