Further education

The further education policy of the UK government is in a shambles. It has been decreed that as many students as possible should attend University for the sake of the reputation of the Country! There is no regard here for the many students who would be better served  by going to a Technical College.

The Government has no right to force a child to go to a particular type of college of further education just for the Country to be able to boast that a higher proportion of UK children are going down a University route, when compared with other cultures or countries.

A child has the right to be offered encouragement to undertake training, in whatever sphere that might be, either physically or intellectually, in an environment of their choice, for their future benefit when an adult, provided that those interests are not in conflict with civilisation generally. A child has that right.

A further problem has evolved in persuading a student to go to a University. The costs cannot be borne by the country funding their attendance, and in many cases neither can their parents, so a scheme has been set up to make it easier for the students to borrow the funds with a view to paying the money back when they are earning more than a specific salary when finally at work, this being related to the average wage at that time. This is perceived by many to be a sensible approach, but an unreasonable number of the students see this as an excuse to borrow more than they actually need with a view to being able to have a good social life whilst in attendance. They view the paying back when earning, if they earn enough, as not a problem, and this is quite acceptable.

Then the organisation supposed to be providing the funding gets into a position where they can't supply the monies, even though the Government had promised that the funding would be available, the result of this in some instances being that the students cannot afford to continue on their university route and they drop out!

A child has the right to be treated by the Authorities with honesty, and if a promise is made, that should be kept. What signal does this behaviour give to the students for when they are adults? And how will it affect how they treat other members of society? This is not something that should be experienced by youngsters whilst in their training years.

The child has the right to be treated with honesty, and if a promise is made to them by an adult, then they have the right to expect that promise to be upheld.