Only a government wilfully ignorant of the massive class inequalities its ideology reinforces would close schools without any notice, forcing teachers to provide remote, online learning for all of their pupils at the last minute. As luck would have it, this is exactly the kind of government Boris Johnson runs.

When schools were shut for five months over spring and summer 2020, it was already apparent that a vast attainment gap, which puts disadvantaged pupils on average 18 months behind their more affluent peers, was set to widen even further. Much of this can be put down to the sheer amount of learning time missed, not forgetting about the resources more readily available to children from better-off backgrounds that make up for that deficit.

Now, poorer children are facing at least another six weeks of the same bleak educational alienation because the government’s pledge to provide them with the technology required to access the majority of at-home learning resources remains unfulfilled – almost ten months down the line.

Johnson’s announcement on Monday that schools would close is the result of the commendable efforts of the National Education Union (NEU) and its allies, but it’s hard not to be frustrated at the absurdity of letting children back into schools for only one day before changing tack.

This action—described as ‘the contemptible climax of a truly woeful week’ by SchoolsWeek editor John Dickens—does not only mean that children from different households have mixed unnecessarily during a period of the highest Covid-19 transmission rates in the UK yet, nor will it only induce disorienting situational whiplash for the children and parents who were assured it was safe to return to schools.

Crucially, it also means that educational institutions have not had enough time to put the required remote-learning measures in place to provide meaningful teaching for all children so suddenly sent home.

In the midst of the first lockdown, Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh wrote a letter to the government stating that 700,000 disadvantaged children in the UK did not have proper access to a computer or the internet and were not completing their homework assignments. In a letter sent this week, she updated that claim with figures from Ofcom indicating that the number of children on the wrong side of this ‘digital divide’ is actually 1.78 million (or about nine percent of British pupils) – a statistic which includes 880,000 children with access only to unreliable mobile internet, and more besides with no internet connection at all.

She wrote: ‘These pupils were likely behind their peers even before the pandemic. After five months of missed education, they returned to school further behind and now start that new year facing weeks of even more missed education.’

Gavin Williamson’s Department for Education has been pledging since April to provide schools with laptops and tablets for affected children on request, as well as 4G data increases for disadvantaged households reliant on mobile internet. Research from the Education Endowment Fund published that same month made clear immediately the potential pitfalls to be avoided when carrying out this provision, rendering the failures thus far entirely avoidable.

McDonagh and her cosignatories’ latest retort lays Williamson’s failures bare, and his upcoming speech to Parliament, amid calls for his resignation, is unlikely to provide meaningful answers or solutions. So what should those answers and solutions look like?

Faster, more meaningful action to deliver devices and connectivity to disadvantaged pupils could have saved a lot of head-scratching and heartache this time around, and clearer guidance than the DfE’s vague best practice on remote learning for teachers could have ensured greater consistency across learning institutions of differing means, making school closures more practical and equitable from the word go.

While the impacts of school closures on the academic attainment—not to mention the physical and emotional wellbeing—of our poorest children are the result of systemic issues that have existed for far longer than Covid-19 and will take many years to address, there are immediate actions that can be taken.

Right now, the government could guarantee to cover the costs of broadband for any family accessing remote learning who would otherwise not be able to afford bills – allowing schools to determine eligibility. In addition to its woefully inefficient central programme of laptop provision (handed over to a Tory donor, once again), it could offer vouchers for families to purchase devices directly from any supplier which met the required specifications, reducing the waiting time for the huge numbers who remain without necessary equipment.

The NEU’s concerted campaign, which included several instances of legal action against the government, confirms yet again that direct, unified action works. We must build on this as a foundation for improving in- and out-of-school educational provision in the state sector in the long term.

School teachers struggling with new technological platforms can also access the Oak National Academy – an online public service which provides clearer, more meaningful guidance that in some ways makes up for the shortfalls in the DfE’s official recommendations. The academy is running a free webinar on Thursday, 7 January to provide further support and advice.

We must also look to the reasons why children from better-off households have always held an educational advantage, key among them being access to private, individualised tutoring – which costs on average £26 per hour, provably boosts academic attainment at all ages, and continued to thrive during the first national lockdown.

A £350m National Tutoring Programme (NTP) was launched to provide such tutoring in schools for disadvantaged pupils, but the funding has only been made available for the 2020/21 academic year. Schools must continue to be encouraged to take advantage of this money while it is there and collaborate with the programme’s approved service providers. Extracurricular support of this kind is not only vital to address the academic disparities among pupils of differing social class: it can also be utilised to provide essential relief for overworked, underpaid, increasingly desperate teachers.

Further school closures only solidify the need to keep this funding in place for longer than has presently been promised. An open letter from several key players in the education and charity sectors is in circulation asking the DfE to extend NTP provision beyond the current year, and further campaigning can only drive the need for this home. On an individual basis, you can even volunteer as an online tutor for disadvantaged schoolchildren through charities like Action Tutoring.

A concerted effort to fortify the Covid-afflicted state education sector for its poorest service users is in step with progressive lines of policy – not least that of universal, nationalised, full-fibre broadband access. We cannot ensure a continued campaign for a fairer society for generations to come without making sure working-class children are provided a robust education that encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and collaboration, and offers equal access to both resources and opportunity.

School closures are essential to curb the ongoing spread of an out-of-control pandemic, but they will also serve to undermine this dream further than even a business-as-usual Tory government ever could. We must band together and make our voices heard so this damage can be mitigated for the sake of our children’s futures.