Masks in school classrooms and a testing regime will not be mandatory, a minister said today - but they are “highly recommended”.
Nick Gibb said the government would stop short of forcing secondary pupils by law to wear face coverings from March 8, when they start being required in classrooms not just corridors.
He also said a new twice-a-week testing regime, in which secondary pupils will take their first three rapid tests at school before administering them at home, will not be forced either.
The testing and face covering requirements do not apply to primary school pupils.
The Schools Minister told BBC Breakfast: “We are saying it is not mandatory for schools to have masks in classrooms.
“But it is highly recommended because we want to do everything we can to reduce the risk of transmission in the school.”
The new measures are designed to cut Covid transmission when secondary pupils return from March 8 onwards in England.
Heads have warned it will take a week or more to give all secondary pupils a test before they can return to the classroom.
Mr Gibb was grilled over comments by Boris Johnson that claimed it was “nonsensical” to wear masks in classrooms.
The Prime Minister said in August last year: “That is clearly nonsensical – you can’t teach with face coverings; you can’t expect people to learn with face coverings.”
Mr Gibb today insisted the scientific data had since changed - including the emergence of a faster-spreading new variant from Kent.
He told LBC radio: "It is more challenging to teach where you have masks on the children and on the teachers but we have a new variant of this virus which is far more transmissible than the previous variant.
"We are always led in every decision we take by the advice of the chief medical officer, by Sage and the scientists to do everything we can to minimise the risk."
Meanwhile Mr Gibb appealed to parents to allow their children to take part in the voluntary testing regime once classrooms reopen next month.
He told Times Radio: "It is not mandatory and any child will need the permission of a parent for the test to be administered.
"This is just one more way of identifying positive cases - without this system, you might miss these asymptomatic cases.
"But for every person who takes a test, that helps us to identify positive cases.
"Of course we can't make it mandatory on parents but we just hope that most parents will see the wisdom of testing their children twice a week.
"And the first three tests will be in school so the students, who will do it themselves actually, will learn how to do it effectively and then testing kits will be sent home."
