NAPLAN 2020 cancelled amid COVID-19

On Friday, 20th March the country’s education ministers have announced that NAPLAN will not go ahead in 2020.

The nationwide skills test for students in years three, five, seven and nine – scheduled to be held from March 12-22 – will not proceed due to coronavirus.

The decision was made at today’s national cabinet meeting of federal, state and territory leaders.

“The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN in 2020 has been taken to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff to focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning,” the Education Council said in a statement on Friday.

“Further, the impact of responses to the COVID-19 virus may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing, including the operation of centralised marking centres and the implications for nationally comparable data if an insufficient number of students are available to do the test.”

The statement added that while education departments and systems would continue to closely monitor the health advice as the coronavirus response develops, the decision announced on Wednesday that schools will remain open has not changed.

“Education ministers reiterated that the national cabinet has agreed, on the advice of the chief health and medical officers, that ‘pre-emptive closure of schools are not proportionate or effective as a public health intervention to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 at this time’,” the statement said.

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared that school will stay open amid COVID-19

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the concerned and worried parents of Australia in a televised press conference on Wednesday, 18 March, 2020.

Due to the global coronavirus pandemic many parents are calling for school closures across the country, however Scott Morrison has said, at this stage, it will not be happening.

“The health advice is that schools should remain open. That is the health advice. This is what Singapore has done. Singapore has been one of the more successful countries. In Singapore the schools are open. In Singapore, they have been quite effective in managing and limiting this virus. The health advice is that schools should remain open,” he told the country.

“There are a number of reasons for this. The first one is the virus operates very differently among young people. Manifestation amongst younger people presents a different health challenge to the broader population,” he continued.

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PM Scott Morrison went on to say that as a parent he is comfortable sending his children to school and he asked for the communnity to also be on board with this advice from health professionals.

“In terms of the health and welfare of our children and many of us here are parents and obviously we are concerned about the health of our kids. The advice that I’m happy to follow for my kids is the advice I’m asking all other parent to follow. We all love our kids and there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for them. As a father, I’m happy for my kids to go to school.

“There is only one reason your kids shouldn’t be going to school and that is if they are unwell. As parents you are in the best position to know if your children are unwell. Don’t leave it to the teacher to work out when they arrive or the school administrator or whoever is on drop off. Make sure if your child is unwell, you keep your child out of school. That is your responsibility.”