MANY people have been concerned for some time that primary school children are not being given a good grounding in the three Rs.

Now the first national test for 11-year-olds have confirmed their worst fears. More than half the children who took the tests did not reach the required standing in reading, writing spelling and arithmetic.

Education Secretary Gillian Shephard is still insisting that efforts to improve teaching standards and the effect of the tests themselves which will lead to improvements. They won't. A back to basics in education might. The days when children chanted their tables has been viewed with horror by some so-called progressive educationalists. The idea that some essential information has to been learned by mechanical exercises seems abhorrent to them. But sometimes that is the only way.

The same goes for spelling and grammar. It was once the fashion among some teachers that such matters should not be addressed too closely for fear that children might be inhibited when writing essays. The cynics among us, noted it also meant less work for the teachers marking the work.

If she did not know it before, Gillian Shephard now knows the dire consequences of these barmy education theories which by their inactivity the Tories have allowed to proliferate in many schools. They must act immediately and ensure that in every primary school the accent is on teaching children to read, write and do basic arithmetic. If they don't, another generation will lose out on essential education.

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