Parents ‘being pushed’ to keep kids at home over coronavirus fears

Sky News host Chris Kenny says he fears a “widespread disruption to schooling” will prove to be “one of the unnecessary side effects of this pandemic response”.

On Thursday Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government will spend $1.6 billion supporting 13,000 childcare facilities and parents to take away the financial burden of having children.

It comes as the federal government said schools will remain open despite moves by the states to increase remote learning for students.

Mr Kenny said the widespread push to close schools in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus “is all very hard to comprehend given the top-level medical advice, from the chief medical officer, his deputy and others (which) has been that keeping schools open is best”.

He said while he believes parents “in these circumstances” deserve a choice about whether to send their kids to school or not, he believed, “they've been pushed in one direction”.

“Keeping schools open helps parents do their work, gives the kids the best education, and enables them to be supervised and coached on hygiene”.

Mr Kenny discussed the topic with Psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg who spoke of the importance of schooling and interaction for children at school.

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