Tory cuts: A disaster for education

It has recently been made abundantly clear by both Ministers involved — Transport's John Peyton and Trade and Industry overlord John Davies — that driving what the latter describes as 'lame-duck' enterprises to the wall forms one of the chief props of government policy.

BY DAVID MAUDE.

Yesterday's London meeting between Peyton and MD&HB chiefs Robert Edwards and Sir Joseph Cleary must therefore be seen as a council of war on how best to implement the two viability schemes-from a Ministry-appointed firm of accountants and from the board itself— submitted to the government last short shrift given ro industries. many of them members • of McGarvey's own union - lost their jobs at Palmer's Tyne shiprepair yard at Hebburn.

Just over three weeks previously, McGarvey met Davies with a delegation of local trade unionists in London to protest against the planned closure of the yard, a Vickers subsidiary.

Tirade

published today.

Twelve educational targets are listed in the booklet, "The Cost of Cuts', and the NUT warns:

'Severe educational consequences for the children of Britain would follow if they were postponed or delayed.' On October 27 the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, attacked school milk, meals and further education, thereby saving the Tory Exchequer £47 million in a full year.

And the total cash for education remained constant at £186 million with the prospect of a fall the year after.

But the NUT says that by 1980 at least 8 per cent or £5,000 million of Britain's GNP will be needed, 'simply to stand steady and meet the statutory requirements of the education system'.

This compares with the present £2,200 million.

Utmost importance

The booklet says that as a result of the increased meal charges 500,000 children will go without school meals and 3,500,000 children will go without milk-'of the utmost importance to the pupils' diet' It adds that the decision to raise further education charges will have a 'most damaging affect on vocational and adult students who draw least time and money from the education service and who individually make the greatest financial contribution to it. This is a retroFRANCE

Court order

issued against stores' sit-in SCARCELY PAUSING over the death of de Gaulle the Gaullist regime in France continues to press forward with its legal attack on the labour and trade union movement.

A Saint-Etienne Court has ordered the clearing of the administrative offices of the 'Nouvelles Galeries' department store. set pay and onion died refused he court order, to go in fect after 48 hours. specifical Virow out the worker or the use of poli and occupations by the allow no further reformion Path depruesday prix and Uniprix, were shut by a strike of sales girls.

start immediately.

Forcing talks He start horninghand Prance were cud by the Stalinist and By hope to force an clams le to the general str basic reform of health see decided Monday 24-hour tota wealael support - SAYS NUT BY IAN gressive policy which should be dropped.

Appalling conditions

The 12 education targets listed by the NUT are: end of oversize classes, nursery education, equality of opportunity, comprehensive education, proper catering, the raising of the school lete and leaving ag insanitary buildings, elimination of obsomore opportunities for higher and further education, fair deal for youth (Youth Service), education at work (day release), education for leisure, participation in education decision making and an increased proportion of the GNP to be devoted to education.

The union says 40,000 more teachers are needed, 30,000 children of university ability still leave school at 15, slum schools in twilight areas remain largely untouched, three million children are still in oversize classes and conditions in many schools are appalling.

An example is' given of one of the less obvious ways in which cuts affect education.

In a survey of local education authority spending on school text books not one authority was spending enough and 81 of the 160 authorities were spending 30 strikers dancies face workers in the small-scale cotton and textile indust hands with agricultural industrial workers workers and small farmers in a protest meeting of 1,500 at Epinal.

Though called by union officials on a wholly inadequate political perspective-the alteration of the Sixth Plan to provide more public works and employment in the area-the unity of workers in industry and on the land strikes an important blow at the employers.

It is now clear that governments and capitalists have a strategy throughout the Common Market of setting workers and farmers against one another, particularly on the question of food prices. SUBSCRIBE NOW £13 for 12 months (312 issues) {6 10s for six months (156 issues) {3 5s for three months (78 issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates £1 far three months (24 issues) £4 for 12 months (96) issues) Circulation Depi., Workera Press, 186a Clapham High I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press. Days required MONDAY THURSDAY (Please tick) TUESDAY FRIDAY Or Full subscription (six days) for Name AdaTeSS Fill in the form below and send to NATIONAL BOOKLET YATES per cent below what was required.

At the annual conference of local education authorities at Scarborough last week the true state of the education system was whitewashed with phrases about the situation not being too serious and about the cuts not being as severe as expected.

This mainly Tory assembly argued that, after all, the education building programme was more or less intact and in any case milk and meals were really welfare and not part of education at all.

But the NUT booklet shows that even at the present rate of inflation it is going to be almost impossible to! keep roofs over heads with the cash available.

Massive funds

Unless massive funds are pumped into education its standards and quality will suffer a sharp and irreversible decline, expansion will be out of the question and educational opportunities will fall.

The truth is that the cuts mark the beginning of a major Tory attack on the education system and through it the working class, whose children are by far the majority of those using state facilities.