UK education czar quits over Johnson’s “inadequate” catch up plan

BRITAIN’s education expert Kevan Collins, who was tasked with helping children recover from lost schooling due to the pandemic, resigned on Wednesday (2) in protest over the prime minister Boris Johnson’s recovery plan with a warning that it “does not come close.”

“The support announced by the government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post,” Collins said in a statement after the Department of Education (DfE) unveiled the £1.4 billion plan on Wednesday (2) morning.

Collins’s resignation came after his proposals for funding £15 bn in a recovery plan aiming at teachers’ training, extra tutoring and extended school days to help children catch up after the pandemic was reduced as he called the government’s plan a “half-hearted approach.”

Reacting to Collins’ resignation, a Downing Street spokesman said that the prime minister is hugely grateful to “Sir Kevan for his work in helping pupils catch up and recover from the effects of the pandemic.”

"The government will continue to focus on education recovery and making sure no child is left behind with their learning, with over £3bn committed for catch up so far,” the spokesman said.

Earlier on Wednesday soon after the announcement, the government's plan was met with backlash from the education community who called the funding “inadequate” while headteachers said that they were "hugely disappointed" by the announcement after expectations of a much bigger set of proposals.

While the Education Policy Institute had calculated £13.5bn for a catch-up funding, Collins was reported as having put forward plans costing £15bn.

Following the backlash, Johnson has assured schools in England there will be “more coming through.”