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Summary
- The Boris Johnson government is facing backlash from the education as well as the health sector after it announced that schools will reopen from Monday.
- Besides, health workers might announce a strike protesting a 1% hike in pay announced in the Budget.
The Boris Johnson government is facing backlash from the education as well as the health sector after it announced that schools will reopen from Monday. The largest education union has said that required safety measures have not been incorporated before beginning classes and could be a risk for young students.
The government said that both schools and colleges would reopen from Monday, where attendance would be compulsory for students. Secondary students would come in batches for the required Covid testing.
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Not just that, health unions came down heavily on the government for announcing a mere 1 per cent hike for health workers after a year that saw National Health Service establishments were stretched thin with the burden of Covid-19 patients. The announcement saw nurses from The Royal College of Nurses start a fund-raising for strike. They are also demanding an increase in pay of 12.5 per cent.
On 22 February, Johnson said that since the country was moving towards normalcy, it would be right to reopen schools and colleges. The move has been criticised by union members, who said that the government did not adopt enough safety measures in schools and colleges.
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Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said that leaders for secondary and post-16 education have had to face difficulties in convincing parents for the testing of students and pointed out that the government push at a larger scale was required to reopen schools.
Also read: UK health department asks for more time for Oxford COVID-19 vaccine review
The NEU had asked for a phased resumption of schools in England, which was followed by Scotland and Wales, where students are returning in batches. Bousted added that the government had two months to prepare the necessary infrastructure to make schools and colleges safer but has failed to do so.
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On the health front too, the government has found itself in a tight spot. Labour Party’s health spokesperson Jon Ashworth criticised the budget announcement of a 1 per cent hike and called it reprehensible and disgusting. The 1 per cent hike was recommended by the Department of Health and Social Care, an independent panel that reviews salaries.
Representatives of NHS Providers, a body that represents health workers, accused that the government has not fulfilled its promise of a planned 2.1 per cent boost in its long-term expenditure goals.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak had exempted health workers from a pay freeze in November, which was announced for all public sector workers. According to the budget announcements, NHS salaries would increase by a little more than the current inflation rate of 0.7 per cent and less than government forecasts for inflation this year.
