Send kids to school with coughs and colds to stop them missing class says Tory
Children should be made to go to school even if they have a minor cough or a cold to stop them falling behind, the Schools Minister has said.
Nick Gibb told parents that even a few days off over a sustained period can damage children's life chances, especially for disadvantaged kids. Schools have reported a rising tide in absenteeism since the pandemic, with nearly one in four (22.3%) children off school more than one in 10 days in 2022/23. The overall absence rate was 10.7% across all schools.
But the Lib Dems told the Government to "cough up catch-up funding" rather than patronising parents. It comes after GCSE results published this week exposed a stark gap between the numbers of pupils in the North East attaining top grades compared to their peers in London.
Mr Gibb told the Sun: "Persistent absenteeism has a serious long-term impact on any child’s life prospects, but it has a disproportionately damaging one on those already struggling with disadvantage. Even one day off could have a detrimental effect on a child’s education. We need parents themselves to take a stand on absenteeism. You can call it a social contract, if you like, between parents and schools.”
He said parents were sometimes worried about sending kids to school with a mild illness, adding: "It's fine to send your child to school with a minor cough or common cold. But if they have a fever, keep them off school until the fever goes."
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But critics said the advice was unlikely to solve high levels of classroom absence, fuelled by Covid disruption, rising anxiety and mental health issues, and deprivation.
Lib Dem Education spokesperson Munira Wilson told the Mirror: "This intervention from Ministers is beyond a joke. This Conservative Government needs to cough up catch-up funding, which is far more important than patronising parents who know what's best for their child."
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson tweeted: "The Chief Medical Officer could urge parents to send kids to school with colds and it wouldn’t dent long term absence numbers. Too many children are missing school because they lack mental health support, a decent recovery programme and because of the cost of living crisis."
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The minister, like school leaders, is concerned about high rates of pupil absence since the pandemic. However, the question of whether or not to keep a child off school because of illness is not really the issue – and parents are probably the best judge of this in any case.
"The real problem is a very high rate of persistent absence which appears to be at least partly driven by a rise in poor mental health. The Government must do more to understand the problem and invest more in attendance support.”
Some 22% of GCSE entries were awarded 7/A or above this year compared to 26.3% last year, after efforts to return grading to pre-pandemic levels. Results remained higher than in 2019 (20.8%) - before lockdowns forced children out of the classroom for months at a time.
Only 17.6% of teenagers in the North East received top grades compared to 28.4% in London - a 10.8 percentage point gap. The gap between the North East and the capital was 10.2 percentage points last year - and it has increased every year since 2017.
In Yorkshire and Humber 18.3% of pupils got top marks, rising to 18.4% in the West Midlands and 18.5% in the East Midlands. In the South East it was 24.4%.
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