Rishi Sunak says government ‘fully intends’ to open schools to all pupils in September as it’s a ‘tragedy’ they’re shut

RISHI Sunak has declared the government “fully intends” to open schools to all pupils in September saying it’s a “tragedy” they’re shut.

The Chancellor this morning suggested things could be back to normal in schools later this year.

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Mr Sunak insisted government was being “measured and responsible” but was confident children would soon return.

Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sky, he said: “Every single day that [children] are not at school is a tragedy, and I don’t say that because of the impact it has on the economy.

“I say that as someone who passionately believes in the power of education to provide opportunities for people, that’s why I got into politics in the first place.

“We are grappling with a situation where we are trying to suppress the spread of a virus.

“We want our children to come back, but we need to make sure that that is not going to make things worse.

“We fully intend to reopen our schools for everybody in September, and in the meantime we have provided extra support.”

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson this week admitted the plan for all primary school kids to return for a month before the summer holidays has been officially ditched.

This morning the head of Ofsted demanded a plan for schools to reopen and warned children are “losing so much”.

Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Education, claimed more children going back should be the Government’s priority.

She said: “We need to concentrate on the main objective which should surely be to get as many children back as soon as possible.

“They are losing so much now.

“Losing education, losing social interaction, losing wider development and of course losing their preparedness for the economic opportunities of the future.”

It comes as ministers were tipped to announce schools will be allowed to fully reopen if they can maintain a 15-pupil limit on classes sizes.

Children of all ages could return before the summer if schools have the space and number of staff needed to accommodate the new rules which will be announced this week.

Just one in four children returned to classrooms last week.

Figures from the Department of Education show only 52 per cent opened their doors to children from nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

The shocking numbers show just 659,000 children were at school last Thursday, 6.9 per cent of all pupils who normally attend.

However, it’s not yet known how many kids were eligible to attend last week in the first place.