Rejected petition Don’t ask teachers to test pupils for COVID-19

Rejected on 6 January 2021

Gavin Williamson has announced this morning that mass testing in schools will be done by school staff. Teachers and school support staff have had an enormous amount of pressure to continue working or change their working methods at very short notice throughout 2020. Medical testing is not their job.

The Government needs to consider the safety of all teachers and school support staff. Additional work and responsibilities should not be placed with these staff who have their own families and cannot protect themselves from exposure to numerous households. The government is asking them to increase their risk of contracting COVID-19 as part of their daily work.

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/563806

Since you started your petition schools have been closed to most students. You can read the Prime Minister's announcement of new Covid-19 restrictions, including school closures, here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-address-to-the-nation-4-january-2021

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.