‘Boris, you should have listened to teachers sooner’- Nicholas West.

Trade Union representative Nicholas West from Hornchurch today writes in the Havering Daily.

Happy new year and another not so happy government fiasco.

Last night, Boris Johnson announced that the government will finally do another U-turn and close schools, some just a day after reopening.

This is welcome but has been unnecessarily delayed.

What’s frustrating is that over Christmas the National Education Union and UNISON warned that returning to school was a bad idea. Gavin Williamson just this weekend said that schools would remain open which ironically meant, if this pandemic has taught us anything, we should’ve expected an almost immediate U-turn.

In my time on the Trade Union Congress I have regularly heard the immeasurable dedication that teachers apply to their profession and the children they teach. They would never have called for schools to be shut unless they felt it was the last resort.

The last twelve months have seen teachers face unimaginable challenges such as teaching students online and having to enforce social distancing to pupils as young as four. In addition to this they’ve had to take on new responsibilities like sanitising their classrooms.

I’d like to say a big thank you to all those working at schools through this crisis and thank them for the countless hours of online lesson planing that has been dumped on them due to the short notice that they’ve once again been given by our failing government.

Teachers, thank you for all of your hard work. You’re appreciated and invaluable to our country and children.