David Cameron, British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader has promised that his government will open another 500 free schools if his party wins the May elections, despite the Labour Party opposing the policy. Government has already announced 49 new free schools, which were given approvals just before the election. Free schools were introduced in the U.K. as part of the reforms recommended by former education secretary Michael Gove.

Over all, the Tory government will open thousands of free schools across England by 2020. Most of the schools will be run by community groups including parents, charities or teachers. It will create an extra 270,000 places at the institutions. Free schools are distinguished by the lack of local authority controls but attract the allegation that they are segregating children from the realities of a diverse society. Some of the schools are faith-based. That also means students born to parents with a specific religious inclination will not mix with children, whose parents have different beliefs. There are about 408 free schools currently in operation.

Highlights

Most of the schools combine primary and secondary education in single institutions, with the result that a pupil can enroll at three or four and stay on until 19. Examples are Northampton International Academy having 2,200 pupils, aged from two or three to 19 and City Gates, a new free school under a Christian faith in north-east London, teaching 4 to 16-year-olds a traditional academic curriculum.

Benefits

More free schools will be good news for parents and children in areas that are socially deprived, where parents do not have much choice for their children’s education. A report published by Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank, busts many myths surrounding free schools. Opponents of the policy, such as Alastair Campbell’s partner Fiona Millar argue that free schools will only benefit middle class families and negatively impact the poorer sections because they will “cream skim” by “weeding out” the most deprived, reports Telegraph.

However, Policy Exchange, after studying the impact of the 171 mainstream free schools opened before September 2014, discovered that the results in the nearby lowest-performing schools have improved substantially, out-performing similar schools not having a free school nearby.

Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt criticised the Prime Minister’s announcement. “Parents waiting for the results of their children’s primary school applications will be astonished to learn that David Cameron wants to continue funnelling money in to areas of surplus school places, via the free schools programme,” he said. But, what weighs in favour of the Conservatives “flagship education policy” is that, more than 70 percent of free schools are ranked good or outstanding and significantly better than local authority schools in terms of results.

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