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Damage from missed school months could be irreversible
28/06/2020
Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, warned the harm to children being out of school during the coronavirus crisis could be “irreversible”.
Speaking in a pre-recorded interview for Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she said: “I think if we look at how quickly the Government was able to construct a whole hospital, think of the Nightingale Hospital, within days, there are questions to be reached why couldn’t have similar efforts been made for children and for education.
“The harms being done by children out of the educational system for so many months are incredible, in the sense that… will you be able to get that time back?
“Some of it is irreversible in terms of the damage being done to children.”
She warned that scientists were “extremely concerned” about a second wave of coronavirus in the winter and argued that the summer was the time to “crunch the curve” and drive cases down so schools could reopen.
Prof Sridhar added: “If you have numbers circulating too high or possibly they start to increase and creep up it becomes difficult because you can’t have everything open then.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub