British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of being "a man with no plan" amid mounting backlash over his government’s U-turn on schools reopening.
Mr Johnson fuelled more political and public fury today after he announced a further easing to lockdown measures at the Downing Street daily briefing, including the reopening of zoos, theme parks and outdoor cinemas but not schools.
Yesterday the Government announced the bulk of students will remain at home until September at the earliest due to the coronavirus despite pledging primary students would be back by July.
"We do fully intend to bring back all children back to school in September provided the progress we are making continues," Mr Johnson said, adding the Government's approach is in line with other European countries.
Britain's prime minister has ditched the "stay at home" mantra as he outlined his plan to gradually ease out of lockdown. (Source: Other)
For 11 weeks, an estimated 8 million children have been out of school as principals' and teachers' unions grapple with the two metre social distancing rules and small class sizes.
Earlier in the House of Commons, there were heated exchanges between the Labour leader Keir Starmer and the Prime Minister who was accused of having no coherent plan after initially planning to get all primary pupils back in school this month to only backtrack on the promise this week.
"The current arrangements lie in tatters. Parents have lost confidence in the Government’s approach. Millions of children will miss six months’ worth of schooling, and inequality will now go up," Mr Starmer said.
But from Downing Street, Mr Johnson defended the decision because the rate of Covid-19 infection is not low enough and the Government’s approach was in line with other European countries.
Education experts say the Government is not prioritising children’s education and risk damaging the educational futures of a generation.
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