David Cameron: I will send my children to state secondaries
Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to send his children to secondary schools in the state sector as he announced plans to improve comprehensive schools across the UK.
The Conservative party leader, an alumnus of £26,000-a-year Eton, told the Daily Telegraph: “I would like my children to go through the state sector.
“I think it’s crazy that we should pay lots of money for private schools. We all pay our taxes. You should have really good state schools available for all,” he added.
Mr Cameron, a father of three, would be the first modern Tory leader to send his children to a state secondary school should he make good on his pledge.
His remarks came as shadow education secretary Michael Gove said the Conservatives would create “superb new school in every community” during their first term in office if elected.
“What you need is rigorous setting and streaming within a school by subject, but within a school that is comprehensive overall,” Mr Gove said in reference to the party’s pledge to put a halt to the number of selective grammar schools created.
Mr Cameron, father to Ivan, six, Nancy, five and two-year-old Arthur, told the newspaper he plans to “bust open” the state monopoly on education and encourage businesses and charities to set up comprehensives.
“From day one of a Conservative government I want Michael and his team to be a team of educational zealots when it comes to excellence and standards and rigour and discipline.
“There are forces in the educational establishment that have to be taken on and defeated on this.”
He added: “The fact that in some parts of the country there are not good schools available to local parents is a disgrace.”
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