Sometimes two contradictory necessities seem to create a paradox, which is the case of the need to start the school year whilst maintaining health restrictions.

Where is the logic, for example, that a school teacher can only socialise over a meal with a maximum of six people (Murcia) and maintain social distancing of 1.5m even when wearing a mask, yet at the same time for it to be OK for him to share an enclosed space with 20 children where it is not necessary to maintain the 1.5m social distancing?

The fact is that it is a prime necessity to get the school year started, not only because of reasons of education, but to allow parents to go out and work whilst the kids are at school.

School attendance is necessary because such centres impart both academic education and social skills; i.e., coexisting with other children using social norms regarding behaviour.

This non-academic instruction obviously does not need to be given once a child reaches secondary education, which is why the physical attendance in classrooms is not a necessity, yet trusting your 12-year-old to be alone at home whilst you and your partner are at work is another matter.

The country needs to keep the economy going otherwise schooling will be the least of the Government’s problems, so one necessity has to give way to another in order to perform this national juggling act.

If contagion surges beyond a level that the country’s hospital system can cope, then the school year will have to be put into hibernation. It is, after all, a race against time to produce an effective and safe vaccination and medical cure for those infected.