London (AFP)

They had only had one day of school since the start of the year: the little English children returned to school on Monday, the first step to gradually come out of a third confinement introduced in January to fight the pandemic of coronavirus.

This containment, harder than the previous one, was introduced to curb the spread of a new more contagious variant of Covid-19 that appeared in Kent.

The pupils therefore had to follow the lessons from their homes, while the children of workers deemed essential could be kept at school.

Faced with the drop in contaminations and hospitalizations, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave the green light at the end of February to reopen schools, which was at the top of his list to gradually get the country out of devastating restrictions for the economy.

Children aged 5 to 11 were the first to find their teachers in England, before college and high school students followed them in stages.

This return is "the greatest relief in the world," Lisa Tyler told AFP, happy to be able to drop off her six and ten-year-old daughters.

Like many parents, for two months she had to juggle the education of her children with her own work.

"I tried to deal with it, but it was a nightmare," she testifies.

- "Long-term scars"?

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According to the chief inspector of English schools, Amanda Spielman, distance education has been "a real ordeal" for many children facing "boredom", "loneliness" and "anxiety".

"The harms to mental health are very clear. We know there is a lot more anxiety, depression and eating disorders in children and youth," Professor Russell said Monday on Times Radio. Viner, President of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

"What we don't know is if this caused a superficial wound that will heal when they return to school, or if it will leave scars in the longer term," he said.

The country in Europe most bereaved by the pandemic with more than 124,000 dead, the United Kingdom is cautious in its deconfinement, anxious to avoid at all costs having to backtrack.

"The reopening of schools has been our priority and the first step in our roadmap to return to normalcy," Boris Johnson tweeted on Monday.

- Masks and regular tests -

Thanks to its large vaccination campaign - 22 million first doses injected - the government relaxed the very strict rules affecting social life.

It is now possible to meet someone outside for a coffee or a picnic for example, before it is expanded to six people at the end of the month.

The reopening of non-essential stores and the terraces of pubs and restaurants is scheduled for April 12 before the lifting of all the hoped-for restrictions on June 21.

The reopening of schools on Monday only concerns those in England, each British nation deconfining at its own pace.

Northern Irish children aged 4 to 8 will also return to class on Monday, followed on March 22 by pupils aged 13 to 18, then the others in April.

Schools in Scotland reopened last month for children aged 4 to 7, with others due to partially return from March 15.

A similar timetable has been adopted in Wales, which favors pupils taking exams this year.

To return to class, wearing a mask in class is recommended for secondary school students who will also have to undergo screening tests twice a week.

A move that worries parents, after statistician Sheila Bird of the Royal Statistical Society warned the BBC on Saturday of the "high probability" of getting a false positive, which would force entire families into self-isolation for nothing.

© 2021 AFP