WAY back in the first three months of 1974, Prime Minister Edward Heath took the emergency measure of forcing factories, businesses, and schools to observe a three-day week.

He took such drastic action to conserve electricity during the coal miners' strikes.

Over 50 years later, and pupils at Abergavenny’s KHS are getting their first taste of the three-day week, but this time it’s teachers and not miners who are striking.

In 1974, the miners were striking to secure a better pay deal; the teachers at KHS are striking because of a staffing restructure consultation that could lead to compulsory redundancies.

Or as Nicola Fitzpatrick, Wales Secretary for NEU Cymru, put it, “NEU members have taken strike action due to a lack of commitment to protecting existing terms and conditions.”

Monmouthshire’s 34 schools have a combined deficit of £7.5 million pounds. And as the county's 3-19 ‘super-school’ with a £70 million new build tag, KHS is thought to be a large part of that problem.

Naturally, MCC is looking to cut costs and has engaged in an “open and meaningful consultation period” with the school.

In a statement, they said, “The council’s priority remains learners’ safety, wellbeing and educational continuity.”

Yet why talk when you can walk?

Despite the lack of any concrete decisions being made, the teachers have still gone on strike.

They shut up shop for a day last week. Two days this week. And on the week before school closes for a two week Easter lay-off, they plan to strike on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Talk about making a point!

On the same week that members of the Senedd express their concern over the harm social media is doing to the nation’s young, KHS pupils have found themselves quite literally left to their own devices when they should be in school studying and socialising.

In political circles, the silence about the potential harm this is doing to a generation that has already suffered from the educational ravages of the Covid era is deafening.  

As our politicians waffle about the importance of St David’s Day and litter-picking, the education, or lack of it, of our nation’s young doesn’t seem worthy enough subject to express an opinion.  

There is always an exception though.

At last week’s meeting of MCC, leader of the Conservative opposition group Richard John argued, “We didn’t pay £70m for a school to stand empty.”

However, the teachers disagreed, and the strike rumbles on.

But for what purpose and to what avail?

There remains a distinct lack of transparency and detail surrounding how many members of staff and what members of the staff will be potentially effected by the “open and meaningful consultation period.”

KHS headteacher Mr Watson informed parents and carers in his latest missive, “The school and MCC continue to do everything possible to try and avert this strike action, and is engaging with the NEU to resolve the dispute. We are asking that the consultation be allowed to complete, and the school be given time to respond, before the necessity of these decisions be considered.”

In other words, wait and see!

Yet can anyone really get behind such a stunning lack of clarity?

In the meantime, the school is shut, lessons remain unlearned and those who lecture the pupils about the value of personal responsibility, consequences, the greater good, and the importance of continued attendance and a solid education, are strangely absent.