Education

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 July 1949.

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Photo of Mr Daniel Lipson Mr Daniel Lipson , Cheltenham 12:00, 5 July 1949

I hope I shall not be accused of being complacent when I say, in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Mr. Hollis) that whether people are agreed or not upon the purpose of education, it is true to say that there never was a time when the people of this country were more sympathetic to education. Whether parents are or are not still anxious for their children to leave school early so as to earn money, I believe that the number who are, is fewer today than ever before. Whether pupils are, or are not, more anxious to leave school than they were, I believe that the children of this country were never so happy in school as they are today. Those are most pleasing and encouraging signs in education. I do not believe that the Minister would have been able to present so impressive a record of achievement, on which I congratulate him, unless the Treasury had believed in education rather more than the Treasury has believed in it in the past. Therefore, although I do not want to be complacent about the progress or the present position in education, it is only right that credit should be given where credit is due.

I hope that if there is any danger, in view of the threatening economic storm or blizzard, of cuts in education, the. Minister will realise that he will have a very strong public opinion behind him in resisting any demands for such cuts. I believe that that would be a very foolish kind of economy, because for years past we have been too wasteful of our human material, and I believe that if we are to recover our place in the world, we must make the fullest use of all the ability of all our children in the service of the nation and of the world.

Reference has been made to teachers' salaries. I was not surprised that the Minister skirted rather lightly over that subject. He said it was a matter for the Burnham Committee. I agree, and it is also true that two years ago the teachers agreed to the Burnham Committee's award, but I would remind the Minister that Mr. Kendrick, who was the chairman of the Birmingham Education Committee for a great many years, has said that it would not be right to shelter behind a contract to prevent justice being done. The Minister will agree that it is bad for education if teachers have serious financial worries. I ask him to believe that a great many have them today. It is a matter for the Burnham Committee, but has the Minister power to invite the Committee to address itself to the question of salaries?

Another matter I wish to raise is schools on housing estates. The Minister seemed to imply that the delay in providing these schools was due to local education authorities. My information is that the Ministry is not prepared to approve plans till the children are actually on the estate. On a housing estate in my constituency there are 600 children but there is no school for them. We have been promised six aluminium class rooms in the autumn to accommodate 260 but that is not enough. Will the Minister tell local education authorities, if they do not know it already, that when a contract to build houses has been entered into they can have their plans for new schools approved at the same time so that the schools can go up straight away?