The announcement that the primary-secondary school transfer tests will proceed in the autumn is a source of anxiety for parents and pupils alike. School closures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that the same level of preparation and teaching resources will not be available to those pupils scheduled to sit the tests. This is obviously a serious cause for concern, as the selection of secondary education is a major life event for young people.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent shutdown – which came in the context of an already developing global economic downturn and an especially weak and failing British economy – has had massive and unprecedented consequences. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain’s GDP has fallen by an estimated 35% in the immediate aftermath of the lockdown being announced.
While states order workers to “stay home”, the country battles a nationwide crisis to remain housed that started far before the pandemic. One in four Americans spend more than half of their monthly income on housing to keep up with rents that have increased more than 150% on average since 2010. As a result, on April 1, only a third of U.S. tenants paid their rent — the unconscionable predicament that tens of millions of working people find themselves in after just one missed paycheck.
By Tom Costello, Socialist Alternative Political committee Working class people have had to make endless sacrifices under lockdown. Parents have been denied entry to hospitals where their children are receiving treatment. Elderly relatives in care homes have gone unvisited for months on end. And for the vast majority of us, […]
