Schools in Vulnerable Areas
It has become imperative that something should be done quickly about the children who remained or have returned to the evacuation areas, and are now without any kind of schooling at all. There are now more than half of the normal number of children living in London for whom some kind of education and discipline must be provided. Many of the schools have been taken over for defence pur- poses, but the Board of Education has come to the conclu- sion that some at least of them must be reopened, with protection in the event of air-raids, and the children ad- mitted in shifts. Mr. Kenneth Lindsay, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board, has expressed the hope that this provision would not lead to the return of more children. If serious raids occur—and who can say when that may happen?—there will be no alternative but to close the schools once again. The decision to reopen is wise, but no children ought to be brought back from the country.