Education secretary ‘gaslights’ families by claiming schools were not shut during lockdown

As reported by The Telegraph, Gillian Keegan has been accused of “gaslighting” families over her claim that schools were not shut down during lockdowns

The education secretary told the House of Commons this week that “schools were not shut during lockdowns, many of our fantastic teachers were still teaching key cohorts supporting our NHS and the most vulnerable such as those with special educational needs”.

However, an internal Department for Education report from April 2020, obtained by the parents’ group UsForThem using Freedom of Information laws, repeatedly references school closures.

The report recorded that 98% of pupils were not in school at the time it was written. It also discusses the “impact of school closures” and the “school closure policy”.

UsForThem, which campaigned for schools to remain open during the pandemic, is calling on Mrs Keegan to retract her statement that schools were not closed.

Arabella Skinner, UsForThem’s chief of staff, said: “The education secretary has once again told us that ‘schools were not shut down in lockdown’.

“Why then did her department in April 2020 talk about the ‘school closures policy’ and ‘closed schools’ when they discussed the impact on attainment, education and the dangers present for vulnerable children? 

“Instead of an education secretary who engages in gaslighting over whether two per cent of children attending schools counts as an open school or not, our children deserve an education secretary who fights to put right the damage that has been wrought on their childhoods.”

Health experts and teachers have warned of the lasting impact of school closures on children who were forced to stay at home.

Families have got out of the habit of sending children to school, leading to a generation of “ghost children”, the Government has been warned.

Department for Education figures show that 125,000 pupils in England missed 50% or more of school in the autumn term, despite the lifting of Covid restrictions.

The figure was more than twice as high as the 2019 autumn term, when 60,200 pupils missed the majority of school.

Esther McVey, Conservative MP for Tatton, this week urged Mrs Keegan to classify education settings as essential infrastructure to ensure they remain open during national emergencies in the future.

She said: “Shutting schools during Covid lockdown was a disaster for children and their mental health, and has led to an explosion in severely absent rates.

“Will [the education secretary] make sure this cannot happen again by classifying all education settings, including schools, colleges and universities as essential infrastructure to ensure they remain open during national emergencies?”.

Mrs Keegan said: “I can assure [Ms McVey] we will always seek to minimise the disruption to education in emergency situations, and I’m sure that we all have a lot to learn from the experience during the last pandemic and the impact that had on children and … the decisions that we took that were led by medical advice.”