As BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis recently observed: “They tell us coronavirus is a great leveller. It’s not. It’s much, much harder if you’re poor.”
This is true across society. The people who occupy the poorest paid, most insecure jobs, are the most likely to have seen their finances hit badly by the lockdown.
It is also true in our schools. Disadvantaged children already lag behind their wealthier peers. Without the direct daily support of teachers and classroom assistants, and often without the technology to access online resources, the gap will become wider.
That is not a criticism of their parents. They will have been doing their best for their children. But these are adults who very often left school themselves without the academic confidence of the middle class.
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