Educational Immensities
Though the debate on education in the House of Commons on _Monday was unfortunately abbreviated by unexpected developments a statement of considerable importance was made by the Minister on what Mr. R. A. Butler called " the really immense and alarming task " impending at the present time. We are now within eight months of the date for raising the school age to 15, and though the supply of teachers will be equal by that time to the increased demand that will only be at the cost of postponing the urgent business of reducing the size of classes—z,3oo of which consisted in 1938 of more than fifty children and 43,000 of more than forty ; the situation, has got worse rather than better since then. In such circumstances it is necessary to work by priorities, and the Minister puts first prepara- tions for raising the school-leaving age and second the expansion and improvement of the school meals service. Third must come preparation for the county colleges, some of which should be open in 195o, and concurrently with all else the clamant problem of the supply of teachers must be faced. - Here the prime difficulty is the shortage even of emergency training colleges, coupled with the fact that women needed specially for the vital work of nursery and infant schools are only being trained in the proportion of two to every seven men. Over and above all this is the hopeless inadequacy of school buildings and disgracefully insanitary condition of many that do exist. Problems on this scale can only be brought in sight of solution if the resolve to solve them is shared by every member of the Cabinet. Doubts on that point—there is an obvious conflict of priorities in the matter of bricks and mortar—were voiced with some emphasi in the.course of Monday's debate.- It will be worth the while of the Prime Minister himself to dispel them.
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