LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Education Costs
SIR,—It seems to me that there is a possible alternative to some of the proposed education cuts which are causing such an uproar in certain quarters. Why should not the Government calculate 'the average cost per child in the various stages from nursery to secondary school, and inaugurate a system of educational allowances on the lines of family allowances ? The allowances could be paid, not in cash, but in vouchers of some sort, the vouchers to be valid in part or full payment of fees at any school; the receiving school to " cash" them with the Ministry.
There is spare class-space, teacher-time and accommodation in many private and part-aided schools in this country, and to divert more children into them would relieve the pressure on the State schools, which are short of buildings, short of teachers, and have too large classes. Furthermore, given some help with fees, a number of inter- mediate-income families could well. afford to send their children to other than State schools, thereby permanently relieving some of the pressure on the State's educational establishments, and modifying the demand—at present incapable of fulfilment—for new school building.
A further advantage of an educational allowance scheme would be that well-run private schools would tend to prosper, while the unsatis- factory private schools would tend to diminish for lack of patronage. At present only well-to-do parents have any real choice of school, and with the steady rise in school fees the income division is likely to become more rather than less marked.—Yours, &c.,
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