Jeremy Corbyn vows to combat grammar school plans
Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to combat plans to lift the ban on opening new grammar schools, warning they threaten to ‘take education back 60 years’.
Writing for the Mirror, Corbyn said that Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to reintroduce grammar schools across England risked a return to ‘to the bad old days when your future was decided by the arbitrary 11-plus test’.
The opposition leader said that the proposals were a ‘poor attempt’ by the conservative government to ‘duck their record’ on education, which he said had ‘seen classes grow to the largest in Europe, teachers flocking to leave the profession as pay and conditions stagnate and a raft of corruption scandals at unaccountable Tory academies that have failed to deliver the promised improvements in standards’.
Corbyn confirmed that Labour is ‘completely opposed to bringing back selection’ and opined that increased investment in children and schools is what is needed to fix the ‘classroom crisis’.
He criticised May for ‘choosing to ignore the evidence’ and warned that grammars ‘depress overall educational achievement and siphon off a few better off children at the expense of the rest’.
Corbyn concluded by saying that if the pans to go ahead, he would make it a ‘top priority’ to reverse them if Labour get back into power.
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