ONCE again private schools are in the news.
This time it is because fees are being increased ("Fees at private schools jump more than the rate of inflation", The Herald, July 22). John Edward, director of The Scottish Council of Independent Schools, is reported as highlighting that Scottish private schools have spent millions of pounds on extra bursaries for pupils from poorer backgrounds. No reference was made to the fact that a number of private schools have been instructed by the Scottish charity regulator in recent times to provide more assistance for such pupils.
Such schools continue to contribute significantly to class division in the UK, where we have schools for the majority and others for the privileged minority. The prime opportunity to abolish them at the end of the Second World War was not taken by the Labour Government of the time and one probably has to accept that they will be with us for the foreseeable future.
If parents have the wherewithal, then let them pay for the full cost. The financial implications for the taxpayer in respect of tax exemptions and rate reductions arising from the charitable status of such schools are not inconsiderable.
Withdrawal of such status could, of course, lead to the closure of a number of such schools. Would that be a bad thing? It could eventually bring about a substantial improvement in the performance of some state schools if they received the input not only of such new pupils but also of their parents. There are those who maintain that parents who send their children to private schools are saving the country money by so doing. Even if this argument has some merit, it is not worth the perennial divisive implications for society.
Ian W Thomson,
38 Kirkintilloch Road,
Lenzie.
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