The British government announced that in England, high school students will be required to wear face masks during school hours while returning to class after the break. This obligation will remain in force until the 26th of January.

In the last few days, over 200.000 new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the country, according to official data. This is what convinced the government to implement this new restriction. 

The Ministry of Education explained that restoring the obligation for high school students to wear face masks „will maximise the number of children in class for the maximum amount of time.„

British authorities added that the recommendation would only remain in force for the next three weeks after which the so-called “COVID plan B provisions” would expire.

„It is absolutely essential to do everything possible to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus in classrooms,” – said Geoff Barton, secretary general of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), emphasised that. 

„The Omicron variant poses a very significant additional risk to education, with the possibility of further widespread disruption of schools,” Barton told the BBC.

„It is absolutely imperative that we do everything possible to reduce transmission of the virus and ensure that children stay in school, so we support the reintroduction of face-covering in classes for students in grades 7 and above,” he added. 

At the end of last semester, over 236,000 students were excluded from school because of the epidemiological restrictions. 

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Photo: Unsplash