Ex-UK education czar decries "half-hearted'' schools effort

Britain risks failing hundreds of thousands of young people with a “half-hearted” effort to bolster schools after the COVID-19 pandemic

LONDON -- Britain risks failing hundreds of thousands of young people with its “half-hearted” effort to bolster schools after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the former education recovery chief who resigned over the government’s funding announcement. Kevan Collins criticized the 1.4 billion pound ($2 billion) education recovery fund that was announced Wednesday, describing it as a fraction of what is needed to meet the scale of the challenge. “The package of support announced yesterday falls far short of what is needed,” Collins wrote Thursday in the Times of London. “It is too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly.” Children across the U.K. lost an average of 115 days of classroom time during the pandemic, curtailing academic achievement and social development. Collins reportedly recommended that the government plow an extra 15 billion pounds into education over the next three years to help students catch up.