Crippling Warwickshire education cuts compared to 'child neglect' - The Rugby Observer

Crippling Warwickshire education cuts compared to 'child neglect'

Rugby Editorial 25th Jan, 2017   0

‘SINISTER’ Government plans to cut education funding will mean Warwickshire children face bigger school class sizes and no qualified nursery teachers – so says the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

The spending plan, due to be rolled out across the country in 2018, will see 98 per cent of schools facing cuts amounting to £367 per pupil.

Warwickshire County Council could lose over £28million of its schools budget, which could equate to 750 fewer teachers across the county.

And up to £100,000 for county nurseries could be slashed, which the NUT believes will mean qualified nursery teachers will become a thing of the past in Warwickshire.




The union said early education was being ‘wrecked’ by the Government, describing the cuts as ‘a disaster’ for the emotional, social and physical development of young children in the county.

An NUT spokesman said: “The divisive and sinister UK austerity programme threatens in particular the social and educational development, well being and psychological health of hundreds of innocent, vulnerable very young Warwickshire children and constitutes a particularly unpleasant form of institutional child neglect.”


According to data collated by the NUT and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the estimated cuts for schools could equate to some 750 teaching positions being scrapped across Warwickshire.

Baljinder Kuller, Managing Director of supply teacher agency The Supply Register, said: “The potential impact of the planned cuts is certainly cause for concern, especially considering that schools across the West Midlands are already struggling to manage with diminished budgets.

“The loss of an additional £367 per pupil by 2020 will no doubt add additional strain to schools who are already grappling with shrinking budgets to ensure that the education of their students is not compromised by a lack of funding.

“It is clear that if the profession fails to address the recruitment crisis now and find innovative ways to procure vital supply staff, this problem will only worsen.”

The Government’s education spending plan aims to redistribute school funding away from over-funded regions such as inner cities, into less well funded regions like sparsely-populated counties.

Business Directory

From plumbers, to restaurants, we can provide you with all the info you need.

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Rugby Observer newspaper.

Announcements

Weddings, Birthdays, Bereavements, Thank you notices, Marriages and more.

Public Notices

View and download all of the public notices in the Rugby Observer.