TEACHERS in Southend had one of the highest rates of absence in the country as a result of coronavirus before Christmas, new figures have revealed.

Data from the Department for Education shows 25 teachers and school leaders in Southend state schools were absent, with either a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19 on December 17.

There were also 137 forced to isolate, meaning 162 in total were off for Covid-19 related reasons on just one day.

This was 12.6 per cent of all teachers in schools that remained open in the borough.

And figures were up from 7 per cent on the same day the week before, and 1.6 per cent on October 15 - the first date the survey was conducted.

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But Jerry Glazier, secretary for the Essex branch of the National Education Union, says the figures are not a surprise.

He said: “The fact that Southend teachers had one of the highest rates in absence is entirely consistent with south east Essex, where the levels of infection were very high before Christmas and there was a lot of illness.

“In fact, it’s completely unsurprising this is the case.

“The Government has said schools are safe but this has been based on and determined by figures in October. We have found that actually infection is 1.9 times higher in primary and secondary teachers than the general population.

“This is also two times higher in special school teachers.

“They are clearly at a greater risk than the general population, and with the way things are we don’t think schools are safe places at the moment.”

The Association of School and College Leaders said the past few months of the pandemic had put English schools under “enormous pressure”, and have called for education staff to be prioritised for the vaccine.

The DfE figures also show 229 (12.2 per cent) teaching assistants and other school staff in Southend were absent for coronavirus-related reasons on December 17.

Of them, 38 had either a suspected or confirmed case of the disease, and 191 were isolating.

A DfE spokeswoman said the Government will keep plans for the return to school under review, but will work to reopen them as soon as possible.