It has been revealed that Knowsley Pupils have a rate of unauthorised absenteeism from school which is twice the national average. (Kirkby may be higher) Also worrying is the number of kids here who are being failed completely by the Education system. The following article is reproduced in parts from the IWCA website - it has been altered in parts so as to address local people here, but the article is of the utmost importance for anyone concerned about the Education of Working Class children here in Kirkby and elsewhere in Knowsley and England in general.

The Great Education Scandal Cover Up.

In all the commentary about education in the press recently one quite shocking set of figures will probably escape further comment. Figures from the Department of Education reveal that only 18% of white working class boys achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A to C. The under-performance of working class Afro-Caribbean boys comes in marginally worse at 16%.

New Labours Promises

Originally New Labour had committed itself to doing something about helping more Afro-Caribbean working class boys attain higher GCSE grades on the grounds of 'institutional racism'-But given that it only requires white working class youngsters to slip a mere 2% down the notch for there to be absolute parity between the two, it tends to expose the uselessness and divisiveness of ever employing race as any sort of reliable social barometer. It was, some would say, easier for New Labour to concentrate on trying to remedy problems for a minority group rather than simply address the issue as one of working class boys, both black and white, underachieving.

One in five pupils going nowhere

But what do these figures mean in real terms? According to David Bell, the chief schools inspector, it means about one fifth of all pupils aged 14 to 16 are heading for oblivion. One in five was going 'nowhere - neither to further schooling, not education, nor [in many cases] to work.'

2000 Middle Class Pupils fail = Scandal. 80,000 Working Class Pupils Fail = Normal

At 14, boys in that group are not achieving the standards expected of 11-year olds. 30,000 leave without any GCSEs every year. Another ten thousand young people disappear from the school system all together. This means that despite being the most exam-laden country in Europe, a staggering 80,000 pupils are effectively being discarded year-on-year while politicians from all parties congratulate each other on rising standards. Remember the fury last year when just 2,000 middle class pupils complained that their exams had been wrongly graded? On the grounds that errors might have 'blighted young lives' an immediate investigation was ordered.

80,000 working class kids on a road to nowhere

Yet why is there nothing resembling that fury when 80,000 working class kids are irredeemably failed by the very same system? Particularly as it is not just the children but also the communities to which they are returned that suffer the most as disaffection inevitably turns to vandalism, crime, and drug use as a form of recreation. There are many young children in Kirkby who fall into this rat trap. Its not that the system is simply failing these children, the frightening truth may be that the system as it stands is prepared to leave our education facilities vastly under-funded and subject to privatisation. Wreck and Sell is a policy ALL Councils and politicians and speculators will pursue.

Educate 50% of our Children - Damn the rest.

Shortly after being elected, Blair outlined the priority of his government as 'Education, education, education.' New Labour still has a goal of seeing 50% of all pupils going on to higher education. But the pressing question now is what of the other 50%? What has the government committed itself to do for them? The answer is nothing - according to the New Labour criteria these children are regarded as the detritus of the comprehensive system.

The old class system is safe with New Labour. Class privilege is alive and kicking and standing very much on its own two feet.

Thanks to the Independent Working Class Association for there research in this matter or an educational apartheid. Our education system must not be run by people whose only concern is money. NEVER believe them when they say there is no money to educate our kids. That money is definitely there.

Estelle Morris as education secretary said that there were some comprehensives she "wouldn't touch with a bargepole". We wonder whether she would have touched Kirkbys schools with a bargepole?