London, July 12 (IANS) There are some things even the prime minister of Britain finds ‘terrifying’. One of them is finding a good state school for his children.
As the resident of 10, Downing Street, Prime Minister David Cameron has to look for state schools that fall under the jurisdiction of the education authority of the Westminster County Council.
His eldest daughter Nancy goes to the St Mary Abbots in the neighbouring borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where he lived before becoming prime minister. Son Elwen will start going to school from next term.
In an interview with the News of the World, Cameron said: ‘I’ve got a six-year-old and a four-year-old and I’m terrified living in central London. Am I going to find a good secondary school for my children? I feel it as a parent, let alone as a politician.’
Himself educated in Eton, Cameron has said in the past that he wants his children to go through the state education system. But living in central London, he ‘sympathised’ with parents in areas where there was no choice of decent schools.
‘In some parts of the country, there isn’t a choice of good schools. That’s why people break the bank to send their children private.’
He said his coalition government will strive to improve the lot of state schools in the country. His comments came even as Education Secretary Michael Gove axed the 55 billion-pound school rebuilding programme of the previous Labour government which has affected more 700 state school projects across Britain.
Reacting to Cameron’s comments, the Westminster City Council insisted its schools were providing ‘first-rate education’.
Westminster’s cabinet member for children and young people, Nickie Aiken, said: ‘We acknowledge that there is still room for improvement and will continue to strive to build on our success to date. We would be delighted if the current prime minister followed in the footsteps of his two immediate predecessors and sent his children to Westminster state primaries.’
(Venkata Vemuri can be contacted at venkata.v@ians.in)
