The debate over the desirability of inducements for schoolteachers paid by parents is driven by several factors: education ideologies, poor civil service pay for graduates, inadequate funds from Treasury to support even minimum school standards, inequalities within the education system, inequalities in parental incomes, and the geographical distribution of members of the teachers' unions.
We do not envy the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, and his senior civil service professionals as they try to chart a course through all the conflicting advice they receive and the desires articulated by so many groups.
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