More than 50 education and health specialists have signed an open letter to Kirsty Williams calling on the Welsh Government to re-open schools full time to all pupils from September at the latest.
The letter is signed by doctors, nurses, teachers, school governors, academics, scientists, public health and mental health experts.
It warns that Wales is now "lagging behind" with England already announcing a full return in September and Scotland committed to re-opening full-time on August 11 if the virus transmission is kept under control there.
The letter follows a separate letter from doctors earlier this month asking for a "cast iron guarantee" that schools would re-open fully next term. There have also been warnings from individual doctors this weekend that school closure is severely impacting education.
One GP told WalesOnline that lockdown is now more of a risk to young people’s health than Covid-19.
Dr Sarah Lewis from Monmouthshire, who co-ordinated the latest letter with parent campaign group UsForThemCymru, is a genetic epidemiologist at Bristol University. She is also a mother of two and school governor.
The letter says a mixture of home and school learning will widen educational inequality as well as making it impossible for some parents to return to work.
It warns: "With England already outperforming Wales at GCSEs it is important that Welsh children are not more adversely affected than their counterparts in other regions of the UK, particularly since they will be competing with them in the jobs market and for university places."
And it goes on: “The impact of the lockdown on learning has already been extremely harmful and there is evidence that the effects of this have been unequal with the most vulnerable children being hardest hit. “
“The blended learning approach which is planned for September is likely to only exacerbate existing inequalities due to differences in access to resources (laptops, desk, space to work) and capacity of parents and guardians to help children with their school work.
“In addition, if children are not able to attend school and after school clubs, many parents will be unable to return to work full-time, which will increase the levels of deprivation in Wales. This is completely at odds with the Welsh government’s priority of reducing inequalities in health.”
Dr Lewis, a mother of two children aged nine and 12, one of whom is at school in Wales, goes on to say that the evidence to date is that children are at low risk from Covid-19 and are unlikely to play a significant role in transmission.
She warned that if schools don’t re-open full time part-time schooling is “unworkable for most parents”, many of whom work full-time and can’t support home learning.
“Some parents are not able to work from home and are not able to work if their children are not in school. Some children have chaotic home lives or are child carers and it is therefore not fair to expect them to work from home.”
She said data from many countries including Sweden, which did not close schools for under-16s, suggest children are very rarely affected by the disease, and several studies suggest they are less likely to spread it than adults.
Data from the Office of National Statistics show that teachers exposed early in the outbreak, when schools were still open to all pupils and infection rates were high, did not have increased risks compared to other professionals.
The letter comes as a petition calling for the Welsh Government to scrap blended learning and return all pupils to school full-time, attracted more than 6,000 signatures in four days.
Mother-of-three Martha Ogunremi, from Newport, said she launched the petition earlier this week out because parents are finding it impossible to work and home teach and need clarity for next term.
Ms Ogunremi, whose children aged six, eight and 10, all attend schools in Newport, said she was working from 4am to 10pm at her job as an English language tutor as well as helping her children with their work. The children’s father is working in London.
“I launched the petition because a couple of days ago I felt it was all getting too much. I cannot give my work an the children’s education the attention they need.
“I have worked as a teaching assistant and I am a language tutor but I don’t know the curriculum and am trying to help three age groups. It’s not feasible.
“I think schools should have re-opened full time on June 29. I am frustrated. We have no idea what’s happening in September yet. The children ask when they are going back and I don’t know.”
Responding to the letter a Welsh Government spokesman said an update on how schools will re-open in September is expected in the coming days.
They said: "Wales is the only UK nation where all pupils have been given the opportunity to attend school before the summer holidays, to see their teachers and classmates and to ‘check in, catch up and prepare’ for summer and September. As we have seen this week, thousands of children across Wales have already returned to school.
“Good practice and evidence from this current period is helping inform school operations for the future. Wales is in a unique position in having this opportunity, and that is thanks to the efforts of heads, teachers and wider school staff.
“Health and scientific advice is evolving, and having to look ahead a further two months is an added challenge. The Education Minister is looking at that advice and evidence and will provide a further update in the coming days.”
