Education leaders have slammed the Government's self-isolation policy after official figures show that 830,000 schoolchildren in England were out of class last week - with 747,000 of those forced to quarantine due to possible contact with a Covid case.
About one in nine (11.2 per cent) state school pupils did not attend class for coronavirus-related reasons on July 8, up from 8.5 per cent on July 1 and 5.1 per cent on June 24, according to Department for Education statistics.
These include approximately 747,000 children self-isolating due to a possible contact with a Covid-19 case, 35,000 pupils with a suspected case of coronavirus and 39,000 with a confirmed case of Covid-19.
The latest figures come after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced last week that the use of 'bubbles' in schools and colleges in England will come to an end as the country moves towards easing lockdown restrictions.
Current rules say that children have to self-isolate for 10 days if another pupil in their bubble - which can be an entire year group at secondary school - tests positive for coronavirus.
But Mr Williamson has said it will be up to individual schools and colleges as to whether they scrap the bubble system on Monday ahead of the summer holidays, following the move to Step 4 of the road map.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'This further large increase in Covid-related pupil absence is more evidence, if it were needed, of the crisis in schools and colleges caused directly by the rules requiring teachers to send home large numbers of children to self-isolate who do not necessarily have the virus.'
Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, told MailOnline: 'Youngsters are at greater risk of harm in crossing the road than they are from the Covid virus and most parents and grandparents have been vaccinated and are not at risk.
'Sending home scores of pupils because one child may carry the virus is hugely damaging to the vast majority of pupils. School management is descending into madness.
Covid-related pupil absence in England has hit a new record high since all students fully returned to class in March this year, with more than 830,000 children out of school last week, Government figures show (stock)
About one in nine (11.2 per cent) state school pupils did not attend class for Covid-19 related reasons on July 8, up from 8.5 per cent on July 1 and 5.1 per cent on June 24, according to Department for Education statistics (stock)
'Only children who test positive and feel unwell, should be sent home. The others need to start catching up on all the learning they have missed out on during lockdown.'
The latest attendance figures, which have been adjusted to exclude those year 11-13 students not expected to attend because they are off-site, show that an estimated 80.4 per cent of state school pupils in England were in class on July 8, down from 83.4 per cent on July 1 and 87.4 per cent on
