The Guardian view on life without school: not a level playing field
Ten million British children are about to get a taste of home schooling. Increased inequality will be the result
What was, just a few days ago, the object of excited speculation among British children has become a reality. Schools are shut. For an unspecified period, learning will take place at home, except for a minority of pupils who are deemed to be vulnerable, or whose parents are key workers. Closing schools was a necessary step that should have been taken sooner, as it was in other countries. But the change in our national life that will begin on Monday morning, when more than 10 million children - 8.8 million of them in England - have nowhere to go, should not be underestimated. Across the world, school is part of the rhythm of life - for parents and teachers as well as pupils. Because of coronavirus, an estimated 800 million children globally are now having their education interrupted.
Some may welcome this, at least at first. Nobody wants to catch Covid-19, or be responsible for spreading it. British schooling has become narrowly exam-focused and in the run-up to primary school Sats, GCSEs and A-levels, lessons can be more like drills than investigations. Some parents have already begun sharing plans (and jokes) about home schooling. There is an undoubted novelty factor.
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