Government funding for education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Government funding for education - Essay Example Therefore, we come to the million dollar questions: How much is today’s government giving to the educational sector? How is the money distributed? Is it enough or more is needed? More importantly, why is government funding so important? First is the State Nursery School, which caters preschool students up to five years. These are usually attached to a primary school, run by the local education authority and are free (BBC, 2009). These centres are essential for high quality early learning and care for children. Realizing the importance, the government has announced extra funding for Nursery Schools in the form of free study hours. News headings flashed across the screens of all leading news channels around the globe in not so recent past: â€Å"Childrens Minister Beverley Hughes has pledged  £340m to extend the entitlement from 12.5 to 15 hours a week† (BBC, 2007). Second and Third Levels are occupied by Primary Schools and High Schools. They, too, are a part of public education. According to the Encyclopaedia Wikipedia, public education is defined as: â€Å"Education mandated for or offered to the children of the general public by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. â€Å" These schools are funded by the Central Government through the local authority according to a range of formulae based on the number and range of each school’s pupils. This is commonly known as delegated funding. Lots has it been put into the development of education at this level. In June 2002, the minister of Education and Young People announced a 1.15 billion package of investment through fifteen public private partnership projects to build schools. In March of 2003, a further of 748 million was pledged to the above mentioned investment package (SEED, 20 04). Next comes the higher education-college and