Ah coalition of business and council leaders in the north of England says the government needs to rethink where the holding exams next year is fair.

Our education editor, Brandon Jeffries, reports now from Oldham, Oldham has been hit hard by coronavirus in schools, feeling the impact teachers on pupils self isolating, just keeping going, sometimes a challenge.

There's a school of 1500 to have 900 Children out.

Makes it nine.

Impossible to be able to operate normally to have a quarter of my teaching staff isolating for two weeks, even though they'll do their best online and giving every bit of support that cancer child it doesn't beat.

Being in the classroom with that expert for you is this part of the same bigger debate about fairness about free school meals?

I think our major concern is that if you're a young person hearing this information now, your value, your worth, your dignity isn't really being respected in the same way it should be.

The national figures don't tell the full story off what's happening across the north of England, where data we've seen shows that a third of teacher cases of coronavirus at one point were in the north west of England on pupil attendance in secondary schools has fallen aslo as's 60 or 70% raising huge questions about the fairness off next years exams because many schools in the South have reached half term barely affected maths.

English Science R S history.

Like many parents in Oldham, Kelly is worried Gabriel is due to sit GCSE s next year.

I think they'll try and make us sit them a zoo much as possible, So I'm hoping that we will.

But I also do you think that there's a good possibility that we won't be?

I just don't think it's a level playing field if students have in school down south because they're not as badly affected.

Compared to a lot of the young people up in the North, it's had in a great deal of pressure to them, we'd like a Plan B.

That's an ongoing assessment for teachers like Vic.

It's Bean exhausting.

He's self isolating after contact with a case day today.

It's been really difficult to plan for education in the classroom, really difficult to plan.

Who's gonna be in the classroom really challenging planning, particularly around cover.

So you've had cover lessons being done.

Teachers covering each other, which has seen an increase in workload and stress.

Schools in the north fear a winter of disruption.

Backup plans for exams are promised by Christmas plans needed to ensure fairness from north to South.

Brown and Jeffries.

BBC News OLDHAM.