Go Figure
‘THE National Audit Office is good with numbers. It produces so many of them that its hard to know where one ends and another begins. Doubtless some auditor in HQ can remember them all in sequence.
But occasionally in among all those figures about Government spending on crisps and nuts, there is news that is worth considering.
According to the NAO, nearly a million British children are being failed at school. Its not that these children are beyond help, stoned on hooch with their hooded heads in the clouds, but that many schools are not up to the job of teaching.
As the Times reports on its front page, the NAO says that 23 per cent of secondary schools and at least 4 per cent of primary schools are poorly performing.
And for those of you excited by that, there are more numbers: 577 schools have seriousness weaknesses; 1,557 schools are failing to provide a decent education; around 980,000 pupils are being neglected; one in eight pupils is not getting a good education.
But the NAO is not just about numbers; it can do words, too. The report states that a sizeable number of schools encounter problems that put childrens education at risk, and some do not provide good value.
And the NAOs head of numbers Sir John Bourn is keen to use some more words, choice as they are. He tells the Guardian: It is unacceptable for any school to carry on providing a poor education over a period that can take up a large part of a childs school career – and deprive them of future prospects and opportunity.’
There are lots of words for us all to consider. Indeed, as the NAO could surely confirm, Sir Johns comment runs to no less and no more than 37 of the things a number higher than the ten fingers on the two hands of our uneducated youth…’
Posted: 11th, January 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
