Some of the publicly funded schools in England have started expressing their fears while sounding the alarm as some of the soaring energy prices had hit their already tightly constrained budgets.
This new development is also coming as some of the schools have expressed their willingness to openly expand some of their activities after the pandemic curbs.
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Some of the households and businesses in the United Kingdom have also openly declared that they are also facing some severe financial hits from energy bills that have soared in the post-pandemic era, exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the government’s education department told AFP: “We are aware of the inflationary pressures facing schools and know that rising costs will impact schools differently.”
The department pointed to a £4-billion rise in funding for schools announced last year and said it was recommending energy deals.
England’s commissioner for children, Rachel De Souza, vowed “schools must absolutely not close” in an interview with The Telegraph late Friday.In the campaign to become the next Conservative party leader and UK prime minister, neither Liz Truss nor her rival Rishi Sunak, made firm commitments to help schools cover huge additional costs.
“I really hope that when we have a new PM, things will be done with the urgency it requires,” said Warwick, stressing that while the energy crisis affects all sectors including health, “schools can’t be forgotten. It’s an essential public service.”
She called on the government to set an energy price cap for schools, similar to that for domestic users.
“I think Liz Truss has been quite clear about what her priorities are — a lot of stuff about tax cuts — but there hasn’t been any mention of bailing out public sector bodies,” said John Dickens, editor of the Schools Week newspaper.
“The public sector — schools and other institutions — they seem to have been forgotten about a little bit.”
Head teachers and unions are urging the government to do more.
“We will be making representations to the new government ministers when they are in post next week to put this at the top of their priority list,” said Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, which includes institutions teaching children aged 16 to 18.
“We need to do something. It is a national problem and I think we should view it like that,” said Paul Gosling, headteacher of Exeter Road Community Primary School in Exmouth, southwest England, who is president of the NAHT headteachers’ union.
From next month, Gosling’s small school which contains several hundred pupils will also have to switch to a new energy contract at par with the current market prices which might cost up to £60,000 — three times more the current sum.
