Pupil absence in schools as Covid hits new high

LONDON: Pupil absence in schools due to Covid has hit a new record high since classes went back in March, figures show.

Data from the Department for Education, covering England, shows that around one in 20 (5.1 per cent) state school pupils did not attend class for Covid-19-related reasons on June 24, up from 3.3 per cent on June 17 and 1.2 per cent on June 10.

Around 279,000 children were self-isolating due to a possible contact with a Covid-19 case, a further 24,000 pupils had a suspected case of coronavirus and 15,000 had a confirmed case. It came after the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed that school isolation rules in England could be brought to an end this autumn.

There are growing concerns about the rising number of children who have to quarantine because they are the contacts of confirmed cases. Current rules state that children have to self-isolate for 10 days if another pupil in their bubble tests positive for coronavirus.

The DfE said ministers have written to secondary schools asking them to prepare to potentially replace isolation rules with regular testing. A spokesman said: “We are provisionally asking secondary schools and colleges to prepare to offer on-site testing when students return for the new academic year, so that schools are ready in case it is needed to keep as many children as possible in face-to-face education.

“We will provide further details about the approach to protective measures and test and trace in education from September in due course.”

On Monday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he has asked for “fresh advice” on the issue, adding that the policy is “having a huge knock-on impact” on children’s education. Meanwhile, schools minister Nick Gibb said the Government is carrying out a review into using testing to end self-isolation for school pupils in bubbles.

“We are conducting trials of daily contact testing as a possible alternative to self-isolation,” he told Sky News, adding that a final decision will be taken before July 19. What matters also is that we keep the school safe and, if you go around our schools, you will see a raft of measures to reduce the infection rates within schools.

“There’s extra hygiene, there’s staggered breaks, we keep children in bubbles, and there’s extra ventilation in classrooms to minimise the risk of transmission.”

Scientists have broadly backed any change to the rules, with Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), saying children “don’t get ill very much when they get this infection so the harm that’s done to them by closing schools or by excluding them from schools far exceeds any harm they get from the virus itself”.

He told LBC radio there needs to be a “balanced response”, adding that “anything that can be done to minimise the disruption to children’s education is a good thing as far as I’m concerned”.

Professor Russell Viner, a member of Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said schools had played an important role but the system now appears “to be having very significant unintended consequences in terms of loss of education and social isolation, with impacts upon children’s mental health”.

He added: “It is now time to undertake an evidence-based reassessment of our system of controls in schools for September.

“We will then have a nearly fully vaccinated adult population – which undoubtedly changes the balance of risks for the controls which we place on our children and young people in schools.

“Children and young people will be the only substantial unvaccinated segment of the population – and we must be careful that we don’t apply unnecessary controls to their lives in schools when vaccinated adults have more freedom.”