The British government on Wednesday faced ridicule for planning to reopen zoos as part of an easing of coronavirus lockdown measures but failing to ensure the immediate return of children to school.

Education leaders said the government's admission Tuesday that it will be unable to reopen most schools in England this month will only widen the gap between rich children and those from disadvantaged families.

Opposition Labour party leader Kier Starmer told Prime Minister Boris Johnson in parliament that the government's "current arrangement lies in tatters".

"Parents have lost confidence in the government's approach, millions of children will miss six months of schooling, and inequality will now go up," he said.

Johnson called Starmer inconsistent and accused teaching unions - concerned about the health of their members - of stalling his reopening plans.

"Last week he was telling (parliament) it was not yet safe to go back to school," the  Conservative leader said.

"This week he is he wants more kids going back to school. I really think he needs to make up his mind."

But even some of Johnson's strongest supporters in the right-wing media lamented the government's handling of the health crisis.

Britain's official virus death toll of 40,883 only trails that of the United States.

"So the nation's children can go to Thorpe Park (theme park in southeast England) in a couple of weeks' time but my kids can't go to school for the foreseeable future?" The Daily Telegraph quoted an "incredulous mother" as asking.

Johnson was expected to announce later Wednesday that Britons will be able to start visiting zoos and wildlife parks from next week.

Hurting the poorest

The overwhelming majority of parents kept their children at home when schools reopened for younger pupils in England last week.

"I personally think every day our children are not at school is a tragedy. It is obviously going to have an impact on their futures," said finance minister Rishi Sunak.

But "we can't do it all in one go," Sunak added. "We have to take careful measures, deliberate steps, to do it."

Education and anti-racism campaigners warned that home lessons were hurting disadvantaged children the most because they often lack access to computers or go to schools with less developed online programmes.

"Disadvantaged students have considerably lost out in terms of remote learning throughout the last couple of months," Runnymede Trust race equality think-tank director Zubaida Haque told a parliamentary hearing Wednesday.

"More crucially, education isn't just about learning for these kids. These kids are also missing out on social and psychological interaction," she said.

"For a lot of students, we know there are mental health issues that are coming out now because they are missing that peer-to-peer contact."

Students in Wales are due to return later this month. Those in Scotland resume from early August and their counterparts in Northern Ireland start again in September.