THE HEADTEACHER of an independent school on the outskirts of Edinburgh has launched a furious attack on government after Nicola Sturgeon announced the closure of all schools until February to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
However, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) have praised the decision to move to remote learning, saying it is a "key part" of the nation's battle against Covid.
Rod Grant, who runs Clifton Hall School, wrote a lengthy post entitled “Children no longer matter" on the institution’s Facebook page.
Grant argued that government hadn’t taken the climate emergency, the obesity pandemic, child poverty, heart disease, cancer, or strokes as seriously as “a virus which is likely to end up with a mortality rate of well below 1%, and which, according to the Office for National Statistics has an average age of death in the UK of 83. Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, men have a life expectancy of 71”.
The headteacher, whose school charges up to £12,870 per year for students to attend, went on: “I’m not a conspiracy theorist; I’m not some radical on the fringes of a fringe. I’m just a teacher and this is what I see: In the last three months, in my school and in schools like it, I am witnessing mental health issues unlike anything I’ve seen in my career.”
He said the ignorance of these mental health issues was “utterly disgraceful” and that “the needs of our children seem to be at the bottom of every Government’s priority list”.
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He finished: “How dare we have created an environment where a 5-year-old can say, ‘I can’t play with Freddy because he’s not part of my bubble’. It is the stuff of nonsense and it is our children who will end up being this lockdown’s ‘collateral damage’.
“Schools need to be OPEN and they need to open NOW.”
However, Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of the EIS trade union, said that while important, these mental health considerations do not mean schools “should stay open at all costs”.
Mr Flanagan said: “The EIS has highlighted on numerous occasions the impact of the pandemic on the broader health and wellbeing of children, which is why schools are so important in nurturing and supporting students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. That doesn’t mean they should stay open at all costs, however.
“There is a clear need for Scottish society to successfully suppress the virus and moving to remote learning for a short period of time is a key part of breaking the transmission chain.”
The EIS boss previously said moving to remote learning was “the correct decision”, adding: “Whilst the education system is better prepared to deliver education remotely than during the first lockdown, challenges remain and we need to ensure that all pupils, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can access learning on an equitable basis.”
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