Few issues have been as contentious during the Covid-19 pandemic as the re-opening of schools. Teaching unions have expressed concern over the safety and efficacy of doing so, whilst governments and parents have expressed concern about the impact the disruption to children’s education is having, especially among the most disadvantaged, whose home environment is often poorly suited to home learning.
A new report from Cambridge University highlights the tremendous long-term harm the prolonged closure of schools is doing to students, with the impact potentially lasting for decades. The authors suggest that if no remedial action is taken, from the mid 2030s, and for the next 50 years, approximately 25% of the entire workforce will have lower skills, which would reduce their earning potential by 3% per year.
Long-term consequences
The report, which was produced by the Royal Society’s multi-disciplinary Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics (DELVE) group, underlines the challenges involved in balancing the huge cost to pupils, and parents, of the school closures, with the risks involved for children, teachers and the community from Covid-19.
The report states that the health risks associated with re-opening schools are low, with no real evidence of an increase in outbreaks in other countries that have opened schools again. By contrast, the risks of the long-term damage caused to the economic wellbeing of the pupils is well proven and considerable.
“Shutting down schools has impacted all children but the worst effects will be felt by those from lower socio-economic groups and with other vulnerabilities, such as a pre-existing mental health condition,” the researchers say. “Children from low-income households in particular are more likely to lack the resources – space, equipment, home support – to engage fully with remote schooling. Those with pre-existing conditions are more likely to experience a worsening of their mental health. This has to be taken into account in how we come out of this pandemic.”
Taking action
The report urges the government to continue efforts to suppress the virus across the community to therefore reduce the risk of transmission in schools once they return to full capacity. They also believe local authorities should have clear, objective, and transparent criteria to allow for effective decision making around the re-opening, and closing, of schools.
Similarly, they suggest that the government provide schools with extra guidance and resources to help them minimize any chains of transmission, including parental guidance on when children should be kept at home, and potentially even extra teachers to help with adherence to social distancing requirements.
There will also be a need for effective monitoring to accompany a test-trace-isolate system that allows schools to rapidly respond to outbreaks, and indeed to allow them to re-open quickly again after the outbreak passes.
