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Education recovery chief quits in English schools catch-up row

The government’s education catch-up chief has resigned in protest over the prime minister’s scaled-down recovery plan, warning it “does not come close” to meeting the needs of children whose education has been thrown into chaos by the pandemic.

In an emotional statement outlining why he could not remain in his post, Sir Kevan Collins said advising the government on the education recovery plan for England’s pupils had been the most important task of his professional life.

But he said the government’s catch-up offer – a £1.4bn plan announced hours earlier, which he said would mean the equivalent of just £22 per child in the average primary school – “betrays an undervaluation of the importance of education”.

Read the Guardian news article here.