The education secretary has expressed “deep concern” that some children are missing lessons to join protests backing a ceasefire in Gaza, with hundreds estimated to have joined school strikes on Friday.
Gillian Keegan said schools should treat the wave of absences “with the utmost seriousness”, despite strike organisers circulating messages suggesting parents would not be fined if children missed school for short or one-off instances.
The school strikes have been called by the Stop the War Coalition, which tweeted pictures saying hundreds of children had joined protests outside town halls in Glasgow, and in the London boroughs of Redbridge and Newham.
Using the hashtag SchoolStrikeForPalestine, students also staged walkouts in Manchester, Luton, Bristol, and the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Harrow.
However, Keegan said the movement was not acceptable. “I’m deeply concerned that some children are attending political protests during the school day.
“Even more so if they’re taking part in, or being exposed to, antisemitic chants. This should be treated with the utmost seriousness – missing school for activism is unacceptable.”
More school strikes are expected next week, and the weekly national marches in London have this weekend been changed to local action by protesters supporting Palestine and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Schoolchildren handed in a petition calling for a ceasefire to representatives at Bristol’s city hall, collected by Carla Denyer, the co-leader of the Green party.
