This petition calls on the Government to fund hand sanitiser units in all primary and secondary schools across the UK. Installing hand sanitiser units will help prevent our children transmitting germs and will protect them from viruses such as Covid-19.  Such outbreaks as Covid-19 stop our children and their teachers attending school. The Department of Health asserts that 60% of school absenteeism is a result of illness such as the common cold.

Our hands are the primary cause for transmitting germs and according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Pevention, 80% of all infections are transmitted via our hands either by greeting people or by touching surfaces. 

Many parents know what it is like to be phoned by school to collect their sick child. As parents and carers it is sometimes impossible to drop everything at work to collect a sick child, as it is to arrange to keep them at home until they have recovered. On occasions, we are forced to take annual leave or unpaid leave to care for our sick children. The British Journal of Family Medicine, for example, estimates over 3 million working days are lost each year by parents having to take care of sick children. This not only has an impact on the finances of parents and carers but also on employers who have to compensate for such absenteeism.

After talking to teachers regarding this petition, I am being told that some schools are already self-funding the purchase of hand sanitiser due to the coronavirus. Schools cannot continue long term to self fund. This extra cost to schools, is funding which could be used for other educational needs of children. 

Support this petition to equip schools with Government funded hand sanitisers in our fight against germs that put our children at risk and disrupts their education. All hospitals and GP practices up and down the county have hand sanitizer units and now it’s time to install them in all schools. 

To make government  listen to us, we need 10,000 signatures. To get parliament to debate this issue we need to obtain 100,000 signatures. Your support can help ensure our children's voice is heard, and protect them from future viruses like Covid-19.