Prime Minister Theresa May has raised the controversial issue of having more grammar schools, when we have not yet come out the Brexit mess. This is a delicate matter and need a broad based consultation and reform before embarking on it.
Previous research has cast doubt on the role of grammar schools in boosting social mobility.
A Sutton Trust report last year said grammar schools were monopolised by affluent pupils, and just 2.7 per cent of entrants to grammar schools were eligible for free school meals.
In December, Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw claimed that grammar schools were “stuffed full” of middle-class children and had failed to improve social mobility. More common across the UK is the "comprehensive" system, in which pupils of all abilities and aptitudes are taught together.
Labour oppose the creation of more grammar schools saying that instead of improving equality, they make it worse. The Conservatives Party support for grammar schools was lukewarm under previous Prime Minister David Cameron, but its manifesto states it will allow all good schools to expand "whether they are maintained schools, academies, free schools or grammar schools". The Liberal Democrats would maintain the status quo, not opening any more or closing any existing ones.
What we need a level playing field for all students from any background and not only for the privileged few. Let it be not an ideological driven idea of one political party.
Baldev Sharma
Harrow
