seatable.
By our correspondent In 1997, just before the next general elections, Major's goverment are going to introduce one of its biggest ever con-tricks.
The parents of every four year old child parents will get a voucher for a lump sum of £1,100 so they will be able to shop around" for their child's nursery education.
There is no guarantee that they will be able to find what they want: provision is left up to the "market", while council spending on state nurseres is heavily restricted.
In a deliberate ploy to fa vour the middle classes, the Tories, arch-opponents of ing that the hand-out will not be means-tested, but handed minisiees claim at parents will be able to "choose" betuccnapar simc (balf dax) prace ie a suic schoor s bursception class, a place in a private nursery (for which they would have to pay most of its costs), and a place in a playPlaygroups which provide a nair cay pracemem navc been encouraged in the past by this goverment as repregood 'value for SCHET money -Their staff receive only short and inexpensive train. ing (compared with teachers.. NNEB or BIEc), and many rely on parents" involyement, while suffering fromuneven, uncontrollco resources. playroup movement recently threatened to boycott the will get only £550 for each part time place.
Condemned
The vouchers instiative is condemned by all teachers.
and sancry workers. Private nursery chains have warned that it could actualiy torce some of authorities have dismissed it as unworkable.
Even Geoffrey Wright, the Tory coucation chairman in Solihull said "We would be no better off, and could be worse off Up to now the only authority that may volunteer to run a pilot scheme is Tory Wandsworth, an authority which already has excellent nursery provisions for four year-olds. Councils fear the scheme, for which they foot most of the bill, will cut their grants for providing nursery The essence of the sceme is transferring money from public to private hands. The main beneficiaries will be parcels who already send their children to private nurseries, whether by choice or because only private provision is available locally.
They will receive a generous hand-out towards thesc costs: those dependent on stie provsrom trethiore te afford to "top up' the voucher EDUCATION to the level of private nursery ducation for three and four school fees are likely to lose ycar- olas out. The money will be de. We should also demand ducted from local authority provisions for extended day spending on nurseries for care which would truly anthose dependent on state pro- swer the needs of working vision. parents -Ihe Oler biz winner from This should be part of our the scheme is the administra- fight for high quality state tion and inspection apparatus. education for all. All this rewhose role it would beto dis- quirse more funds for traintribute, cash and evaluate the ing. SOURCIk and "service'.
The cost of this apparatus We should be demanding cost is estimated at £20 mil- and supporting our councils lion, money which should be to resist this scheme, which used to extend free nursery is set to hones up the waltey middle classes by smashing Socialists should be cam- up what little nurscry provigaing for, free high ge sion working class people Ity. ill time nurse currently enjoy