School kids could be made to stay behind an extra half and hour to catch up with classes missed due to Covid, leaked plans reveal.
Proposals have been drawn up to demand pupils are kept at school for another two and a half hours each week, The Times reports.
The proposal suggests that each child will have to have an additional 100 hours of schooling per year from 2022 after the disruption caused by Covid, with extra tutoring for five million pupils and additional training for 500,000 teachers.
The Mirror understands the final proposals by 'catch-up tsar' Sir Kevan Collins are due to be published within days.
Previously it was reported that ministers would consider extending the school day in an effort to catch up with lost learning during the pandemic.
School Standards minister Nick Gibb said earlier this year it was one of the proposals being looked at by Sir Kevan.
Mr Gibb told the Commons education committee at the time: "I'm open to all ideas, we just have to leave no stone unturned in making sure that we can help those young people catch up from the lost education."
Now, according to The Times, a leaked presentation written by Sir Kevan says children will face a 35-hour week minimum.
And officials are reportedly considering an additional year of college for sixth-form students if teenagers can't finish their A-levels in time.
The Times reports that the 56-page document was '90 per cent complete' as of April 15, and a Whitehall source was claimed to have said nothing had changed drastically since then.
Government sources have not denied the plans when approached by the Mirror.
Boris Johnson is already said to have been briefed on the report and is prepared to give the go ahead, insiders claimed.
If the document stays unchanged, the recommendation is said to be for extra time, as well as teaching and tutoring, and that teachers will be given raises to cover the extra hours.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government is committed to education recovery in response to the pandemic and is spending £1.7bn by the end of 2022 on catch-up activity alone.
"We have appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on this work and will share further details in due course."
Unions previously reacted to the plans with a fresh warning for teachers, who are already working long hours with high workloads.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, warned ministers against piling fresh pressure on teachers.
“Any proposals to change term times or holidays will need to consider that teachers already work more unpaid overtime than any other profession, and that excessive workload is the reason that many teachers and school leaders leave teaching,” he said.
Schools had been physically closed during the national lockdown but re-opened to pupils earlier this year.
As part of the easing of lockdown restrictions from May 17 face coverings for pupils are no longer recommended in secondary schools or colleges - either in classrooms or communal areas.
Face masks could return in some schools if there are local outbreaks, and twice weekly home testing for school pupils remain in place to control infection rates.
