THE Prime Minister is preparing to confirm that the re-opening of schools will take place on March 8 after three months of missed classes for the vast majority of pupils.
I’m sure millions of parents will be breathing a sigh of relief because home-schooling can’t be easy, and good teachers are worth their weight in gold. But let’s keep all the scaremongering over the damage that’s allegedly been done to children’s prospects in perspective.
Children go to school and college for 13 years. Missing one year – even if they’d had no teaching at all – represents less than eight per cent of their education. And for at least half of those youngsters, examination grades will be irrelevant anyway.