“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin
The Government paper, Schools, pupils and their characteristics (08.07.23) gives the total number of English schools as 24,442.
Rishi Sunak has heralded the fact that as Chancellor, one of the first things he did was to approve funding for the rebuilding of 500 schools over a ten year period. As a former investment fund manager you would think Rishi Sunak could do simple arithmetic but it appears not.
It was reported the Department of Education informed Sunak that 200 schools a year needed to be replaced.
“We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme with 50 a year…" (Daily Echo:05/09/23)
In response Sunak has denied cutting the schools rebuilding budget.
“The UK’s prime minister has defended himself against accusations that he failed to fully fund a programme to rebuild England’s schools, claiming the suggestion is “completely and utterly” wrong." (Guardian>: 04/09/23)
Let us be generous and assume Sunak didn’t cut the school-rebuilding budget. If only 50 schools a year were being rebuilt before he became Chancellor then, even though he knew the replacement of 200 schools a year was needed, he didn’t technically cut funding. He did however knowingly decide to continue with a programme that was seriously inadequate in replacing dangerous buildings.
We know he approved the funding for 50 schools per year to be rebuilt. We also know from the government’s own figures there are 24,442 schools in England.
The amount of time to replace those 24,442 schools using Sunak’s timetable would take 24,442 divided by 50 years: that is 488 years! In other words, if the same number of schools had existed at the time of Henry VIII only now would all of those schools have been replaced.
When Department of Education civil servants tell us “we weren’t just saying there is a significant risk of fatality, we were saying there is a critical risk to life if the programme is not funded", Sunak has to be answerable for putting so may young lives at risk, merely to save money.
He may not of cut funding but he did nothing to increase funding even though he knew children’s lives were at “critical risk”
In the meantime, back at the Department of Education, he did approve of the office makeover of Gillian Keegan's office.
“The £34m revamp of education secretary Gillian Keegan’s offices shows that the Tories don’t care about spending enough to fix collapsing schools, said Sir Keir Starmer.” (Guardian: 06/09/23)
Its good to know just what the Tory priorities really are.
