Taxing private schools is a half-baked initiative that will price out aspirational parents like mine - Daxa Patel
Labour believes by taxing the parents whose only crime is wanting to give their children the best start in life through private school, they will be able to redeploy those funds to bring in more maths teachers in state schools. The only problem with this half-baked initiative is that the 6,500 teachers will only meet the needs of one in three schools.
Sending children to private fee-paying schools is not the preserve of the wealthy. Ordinary working people including small business owners such as plumbers, builders and even teachers, often curtail their own needs, save money so they can send their children to these schools where class sizes are smaller and the quality of education is better.
My dad was a shopkeeper and I was the only Indian kid in my first school. He sent me to a private fee-paying school as my dad wanted to give me the best start in life, which is not a crime. I am where I am because my father dared to dream big. By asking that extra 20 per cent from parents like my dad, Labour is going to close the door on aspirations and opportunities. This defies logic and common sense.
All children deserve the best start in life and even state schools need to offer the same opportunities as private schools. The fact that a serious subject like maths is being taught by a non-qualified teacher in maths, is a criminal act. How have we got to this pathetic stage?
Each government has promised to invest in education, but this latest promise is the tip of the ice-berg of yet another poor policy. We have child poverty on a global level and yet we have the audacity to call ourselves a developed country. Our standards are falling below acceptable standards and politicians are waving the white flag to tell us like the NHS, even education will take decades to fix, is that a source of comfort? I think not.
The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown deserves a knighthood for shining a light on child poverty. Mr Brown is the keynote speaker at Edinburgh International Festival in August on the subject of ‘The world as it is and the world as it can be.’
He wants us to change our acceptance of the status quo and challenge our minds to believe that it is possible to eradicate child poverty. In a world where divisions are magnified as opposed to the common values of humanity, which is to live and let live, to live in peace with fairness as the order of the day, we must challenge ourselves to think differently and acknowledge better alternatives do exist.
It is not good enough to ignore the problems in our own backyard. The pandemic rightly or wrongly led to schools being shut down, millions of children have lived through social isolation and the impact on their education has been profound. Added to that, is now the fact that for many children, they do not have a bed of their own, their parents are forced to go to food banks to feed them. For all the safeguarding measures we advocate, fundamental basic needs cannot be met even though we are a member of the G7, and seemingly a wealthy nation, the truth is that we are kidding ourselves when we refuse to tackle these core issues.
We all know, our children are our only hope for a better and kinder future. Already, there is a generation that is struggling to get on the housing ladder. Children of today will face an even harsher world by the time they come out of education.
What we need to see from Labour is not caution but a bold approach. If socialism has some value, it is to ensure everyone is treated with respect and with fairness. Everyone has the right to the same opportunities. A society where there is a gap in opportunities for the extraordinarily rich compared to the rest of us, is akin to the country being governed by the super-rich out of London, which is sadly, where we are.
The so-called initiative to level up has almost vanished for parties talking about their manifestos and contracts, but inequity in education is inequality of opportunities in life.
If we can credit Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson for one thing it is the furlough scheme that saved many jobs during the pandemic. Now is the time for another bold initiative which tackles the plight of our primary education so that our children are not unduly penalised because politicians did not have the gumption to do the right thing.
My father was not a rich man, but I am so grateful to him for having the audacity to give me the start in life he did. My life has allowed me to observe very closely the unfairness between the super-rich and the families on the breadline.
If as Sir Keir Starmer puts it Labour has changed, and it now puts the country first and the party second, thank God for recognising the obvious order of priority, why not go the extra mile and find ways to ensure all children have equal access to smaller class sizes, education from qualified teachers, proper meals in their belly, and their own bed to sleep on. Not too much to ask from the next government if they really have changed, is it?
Daxa Manhar Patel is a leadership coach, author and solicitor.