Teaching union calls for all schools in England to stay shut for two weeks

London, Jan 3 : All schools in England should remain closed for two more weeks due to the rising Covid-19 infections, the UK’s biggest teaching union has said.
On Saturday,the National Education Union (NEU), which has more than 450,000 members in the country, called for all primary and secondary schools to be closed, saying “what is right for London is right for the rest of the country”, Xinhua news agency reported.
NEU Joint General Secretary Mary Bousted told the BBC on Saturday that she hoped a closure of all schools would give time for a mass-testing system to be set up, calling for this to be led by public health bodies.
Her initiative came after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said the previous day that all London primary and secondary schools would remain shut on Monday, rather than only those in some boroughs, as the British capital battles with high levels of coronavirus infections.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the government’s U-turn policy on London primary schools, which came two days after Williamson said only those in 22 of London’s 32 boroughs would be affected by the closures.
Some London borough leaders wrote to the UK government on January 1, asking for the official efforts to reverse plans to reopen primary schools in some areas.