GOP ridiculed over embarrassing spelling mistake in complaint about school closures

‘Looks like the GOP needs to go back to school’

The Republican party has been roasted online after making an embarrassing spelling mistake in a tweet complaining about the impacts of school closures on children’s education.

“Keeping schools closed has DEVESTATING effects on the mental health, social and economic situation and academic achievement of America’s children,” the now-deleted tweet from the GOP’s official account read, according to a number of reports.

“The science is in – schools can safely re-open!” they added to the end of the post, which misspelled the word devastating.

Critics online were quick to call the party out on their embarrassing typo and point out the irony of the mistake coming in a rant about education.

“Tweeting without spell check can be devestating,” journalist Dan Rather said.

Other users swiftly joked that the GOP should be heading back to school themselves, with one user commenting: “Speaking of the DEVESTATING effects of missing school…”

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“Looks like the GOP needs to go back to school. It’s "devastating," not "devestating,” another said.

“DEVASTATING not devestating pumpkin.  Time to go back to school yourself. Wear a mask,” one user posted.

The post comes as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week relaxed its social distancing guidelines for schools, saying students can now sit three feet apart in classrooms.

The revised Covid-19 recommendations represent a turn away from the six-foot standard that has forced some schools to remove desks, stagger scheduling and take other steps to keep children away from one another.

In recent months, schools in some states have been disregarding the CDC guidelines and using a three-foot standard.

Republicans have often advocated for the reopening of schools in the last year as a priority despite waves of coronavirus infection.

Joe Biden’s administration also announced last week that it will be allocating $10bn ($7.2) in funding to assist in testing school children and teachers from the recently passed American Rescue Plan.