Graeme Bloch says the M&G's article on private schooling missed the boat.
Your article on private schooling (“Low-fee schools on the rise”, Business, September 7) missed the boat. Your article suggests that about 4% of children are in independent schools. Even if the figure is double (say 8%), where are the rest of the kids? So independent schools, even low-fee-paying schools, can be part of the solution, but are not the solution.
We can learn a lot from their success, sure. But mostly we need to fix the state schools where most of the kids are. This is the message: even Curro Holdings, which has seen the gap, is talking of a maximum of only 41 schools over the next few years out of 26000. Hardly a new option.
Then, if you are in rural Mmatau, you are hard-pressed to find the independent options there are in Hillbrow. Also, extramurals are crucial to developing the talent of all kids. In short, watch your headlines even as you tell us of new and important developments. And let us not be so desperate that we clutch at any straws: hard work is much better, if more time-consuming. – Graeme Bloch