Outdoor education centres warn of risk of closure due to Covid - a report in the Guardian

As reproted in the Guardian:

Outdoor adventures are being banished from the childhood memories of a generation because of coronavirus regulations.

Outdoor centres that provide environmental education for young people from inner cities, including those who may be deprived or disabled, are warning that they face collapse due to a lack of government support.

Residential outdoor centres – many of them charities, not-for-profit or small, family-run businesses – have been closed since March and will not open again until April 2021 at the earliest, under Department for Education guidelines. Of the 15,000 teachers and instructors employed in the sector, about 6,000 have lost their jobs and several centres have permanently closed.

The centres are classified as “open”, however, because they are allowed to offer day trip activities – and so English and Welsh centres cannot receive the financial support available to businesses such as nightclubs that are closed because of the pandemic. Scotland, where outdoor educational trips are part of the curriculum, has provided £2m to save its centres.

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