WA parents who choose to keep their children home from school this term during the COVID-19 outbreak will not be penalised for doing so, the Premier has announced.
The Premier, Mark McGowan said ‘stage one’ restrictions on social gatherings as a result of the health crisis were now in place – but WA schools were still open for business.
“As agreed by National Cabinet, Western Australian schools will remain open until the end of the current school term,” Mr McGowan said.
“The official medical advice is clear — closing schools is not currently recommended for Australia,” he said.
“However, if parents decide to not send their kids to school, they will not face any of the usual consequences.”
He said the Government understood that parents had the right to make their own choice in regard to the health of their children.
He urged parents who decided to keep their children home to abide by all other laws, including all new social distances rules that had been introduced.
“Across the public school system, resources will be provided if parents choose to keep their children home, so they have the option to continue with an education program for the remainder of the term,” Mr McGowan said.
“We will continue to make decisions based on the best medical advice in the nation,” he said.
“I understand that parents are concerned and may want to keep their kids home and we respect parents’ right to make this choice.”
He said stage two restrictions would be considered and rolled out as needed.
“Western Australians should expect that these will be more extreme and impact on their lives even more,” Mr McGowan said.
