Another Ministry of Silly Thoughts

It's perhaps reassuring to know that the hand of the Education Secretary has not been having much to do with schools lately, but who needs him to make life difficult for us, when we have the Health Secretary stepping in to tell everyone that children and teachers never get Covid 19.

He is simply following the scientific evidence that some studies show that teachers who have not been in school or have only had a few children in their class are at no more risk of catching the disease than an NHS worker in a hospital where there are lots of confirmed cases.

Now, while this may be reassuring to the government and means that teachers apparently don't need to be vaccinated as a matter of urgency, it overlooks some unscientific consequences of such a foolhardy approach. It doesn't recognise that when a teacher becomes ill and cannot teach their class, either someone else has to do it or the children need to go home.

Perhaps it could be explained to the government that this would mean that parents would need to stay home to look after their children instead of going to work, which might have an impact upon the economy. After all, that seems to be the main driver for having children in school. Unless you believe the “experts” who tell us that education is only delivered by teachers and received by children, rather than learning being a broad and rich experience that never stops, even when you leave school.

(Unless you become a government minister!)

A government spokesperson said today that not all ministers were silly.