Education Under Fire

Gordon Brown today surprised commentators by announcing the sell-off of national assets in an attempt to claw back £16bn and pay of a portion of the debt racked up in trying to alleviate the recession.

He also assured the public that the sale of the student loan company (SLC) would not lead to increased interest rates on repayments.

But Tim Trent pours scorn on this promise.

He states: 'no-one is going to buy [the loan book] unless they can make a profit" and points out that this will inevitably mean the end of preferential interest rates.

Alistair McRonald ridicules Mr Brown's accounting ability, noting that the fire sale is only expected to rake in as much as the VAT cut!

The news comes in the wake of criticism of the SLC for failing to deal with loan applications in time for the start of the new term, as they deal with a massive backlog of unprocessed claims. It has been claimed that as many as 175,000 students will recieve late payments and cause them to face additional hardships.

Meanwhile Steve Borthwick examines a new report which is highly critical of the government's policy towards faith schools.

He summarises the main complaints which highlight the lack of relevant choices for children and points out how the policy may entrench inequality by failing to address the real needs of children.

The Accord Coalition also provides a subsidiary report showing how the outsourcing of education to faith groups is not lowering the burden on the taxpayer in line with expectations, as capital funding continues to decline.

Accord Coalition chair, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain explained

"Perhaps the government has recognised the financial reality that religious groups can no longer afford to pay as much as they once did, but not the social reality that religious discrimination is unacceptable in the 21st century. Taxpayer funded public services should be for the public, not one segment of it."

Oranjepan says:
It's no longer education, education, education - it's now all about the stupid economy!