FURIOUS teachers warned today that making kids wearing masks at school will cause bullying and distract from their vital learning.
Last night the Government changed tack again on face masks, telling schools in lockdown areas that older kids would have to wear them in corridors and other communal areas to stop the spread of the bug.
But for now they won’t have to wear them inside the classrooms unless individual schools order them too.
However, Tory MPs and heads are in uproar over the plans – saying it will ruin discipline and cause chaos in schools.
Katharine Birbalsingh, founder of Michaela community school in Brent North London, said it would lead to mayhem.
She told Radio 4’s Today: “Children in groups behave very differently.
“The idea that these children will be wearing masks perfectly and not bullying each other… we need to consider that when considering if it will make a difference to pupils’ safety.”
And she added: “They will be wearing reused dirty masks, they will swap them, ping them, they will lick and spit on each other’s masks for a joke.
“They will wear them incorrectly, they will lose them.
“The girls will be in the loos, checking their masks, making sure they look nice. They will be touching their faces all the more – I would argue they make them less safe.”
Teacher will be unable to see who is making snide comments and being silly, and disorder will become rife in classrooms again.
And that could have a knock-on effect on their educaiton, she argued.
After months at home most pupils in England will return to scool next week.
Schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland have already returned.
The latest screeching u-turn for the Government came just 24 hours after No10 stressed there would be no change in position based on new evidence from the World Health Organisation.
But Scotland piled on pressure by saying it would ask kids to wear masks in corridors at secondary schools from next Monday.
Heads broke with Government advice to say they would ask their pupils to wear them too – some of them inside classrooms too.
