Coming back to class, a dilemma for Boris Johnson …

From London. With the goal of 15 million vaccinated people reached, with the sharp drop in infections and deaths, Boris Johnson seeks orderly exit from current national lockdown, the third since the start of the pandemic. The central lever of your strategy is also your Achilles heel: school.

Post-childbirth normality largely depends on the boys returning to class, the release of their parents and the reactivation of their socio-economic integration. “Education is our number one priority, and then will come the reopening of non-essential and timely and where possible businesses of hospitality, food and recreation,” Johnson said.

The previous two reopening – between May and August, and the one before Christmas – ended in tears: precipitate return to containment, triggered case and overflow of the NHS, the British health system. Next Monday, the Prime Minister will announce what the system will look like to replace the hard lockdown that began on January 5 across the UK..

The government has set four criteria for leaving the enclosure: success of the vaccination program, reduction in the number of hospitalizations and deaths, and control of new variants. In recent days, the focus has been on the number of infections. “We need the contagion rate to drop to its lowest level. It is essential ”, declared the Prime Minister.

Experience seems to have forged a Boris Johnson 2021 model characterized by prudence. Today, the date and modality of the return to class are at the center of the debate: last year it was a cause for male bragging, as if the virus could be defeated with a warlike spirit, strength and will. . The big problem is how to keep teachers and students safe. “The danger when there are a lot of people together, even in the case of minors, is that there are new variants and mutations in this population and that the disease spreads to more groups at risk”, said warned the Johnson 2021 model.

Workers’ opposition and education unions have proposed mass vaccination of teachers and professors. The proposal sparked intense debate. Curiously in the center-left media The Guardian Yes The observer some columnists appeared to criticize the Labor position while the Conservatives The Daily Telegraph some voices demanded that the safety of educators be guaranteed. “Vaccinating young teachers may be a good idea, but it’s not so good if the cost is an increase in preventable deaths. The data shows that teachers, unlike taxi drivers or factory workers, are no more in danger of death than the general population, ”Sonia Sodha said in Progressive Sunday. The observer.

The “data” is less neutral than Sodha thinks. In the chain of pupils, teachers and social contacts (parents, family, friends), primary school children are mostly asymptomatic, with a very low risk of becoming seriously ill and a limited capacity for infection. “It hasn’t changed with mutations and variants,” specialist Mike Tildesley told the BBC.

In short, they are not a serious danger, but they are not harmless either.. Things get complicated with high school students who are at least as communicative as adults. “In December, the level of infection among boys increased dramatically. In secondary schools, one in 40 students was infected, in elementary schools, one in fifteen. This was the result of the government’s failure to offer protection to schools. We have written to principals, employers and the government to make them understand that the safety conditions for face-to-face education are not in place, ”the National Education Union said in a recent statement. According to the National Statistics Office (ONS), nurses, cleaning staff, social workers, taxi drivers and security guards are at greater risk than teachers. With that frozen stick that statistics use, the risk of death for a high school teacher is calculated to be “only” slightly higher than that of the general population: 39 and 21 deaths of teachers and teachers per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 31 and 17 in the rest of the population.

There is no more time

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has this week to finalize its action plan before Johnson announces the new roadmap next Monday. According to two conservative newspapers, The sun and the The telegraph of the day, the government plan will give priority in the vaccination program to educators of a certain age.

Beyond this political will of the government, it is impossible to vaccinate all teachers and professors at risk by March 8, especially since it takes two weeks for the immunity of the first dose to be fully activated.

Johnson hasn’t ruled out a phased return to classrooms. “We haven’t made a specific decision. March 8 has long been a priority for families and government. Our intention is to start the process of returning to class on that date ”, declared the Prime Minister. The President of the Confederation of the National Health Service (NHS), Lord Victor Adeborale, recommended extreme caution. “The NHS is on its knees. March 8 may be too early to resume classes, ”Lord Adeborale said.

Subject divides parent groups. On the one hand, there is “Us For Them”, which is presented on its website as “tens of thousands of parents who want schools to reopen as soon as possible” and are advised by Ted baker, a prominent conservative politician. On the opposite side is “Parents United Against Dangerous Schools” which demanded greater safety in classrooms before returning to class.

In the midst of crossfire, teachers and professors feel a tightrope. Sarah Biasibetti, a French and Italian secondary school teacher, told Pagina / 12 that she feared for her own safety. “I already had that when we went back to school in September and again in December. I have already told my supervisor that I am not at all comfortable with going back to class. We will have to see what the government proposes and what response the union gives“, He told this newspaper.