Sacrifice in the Schools
Stn,—In your note, Sacrifice in the Schools, you say that two things are essential: that all children of school age should be taught, and that there should be enough teachers to teach them. It is false to say: " Nothing has been changed in respect of that." The number of teachers may be unchanged, but the number of pupils is increasing, especially in primary schools, where the effect of the bulge in the birth- rate is now being felt.
Mr. John Pitcher, a member of the executive of the N.U.T., has lately estimated that the country needs 70 new infants' schools of 200 places each if the peak of the bulge is to be met next year. Classes will rise to 60 pupils or more, and the often out-dated primary schools will become even more crowded. It has been estimated that, of the 54 schools in the three central boroughs of London, only eleven were built since 1900; thirteen are more than 90, and five more than 100 years old. The curtailment of the school-building programme makes the building of sufficient new schools and the replacement of condemned schools impossible.
What is important is not the number but the proportion of teachers to the school population and the conditions in which that population is taught.—Yours faithfully, THOMAS J. SHERIDAN, MICHAEL TUCKER.
24 West Park Road, Downend, Bristol.
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