IN my opinion education has to be one of the most important issues that we need to get right and one that we cannot afford to get wrong.

Educating our young with the right skills and morals determines the whole future of our country and economy.

So after 13 years of Labour’s ‘Education, Education, Education’, what have we got to show for it?

Dissatisfied teachers, postcode lottery, poor discipline and playing fields sold off.

We now see students leaving university saddled with thousands of pounds of debt, before they even start looking for a job.

This cannot be allowed to carry on, so UKIP would scrap the need for students to take out loans to pay for university and give them grants so they can start work debt free.

Students leaving high school education would be given a voucher to be used for university or vocational training.

Local teachers are telling me the most important issues for them are discipline, over testing and too many targets.

As far as discipline is concerned, we need to allow teachers to have control to be able to teach, and there is too much testing and too many targets.

So let’s take the axe to political correctness and bureaucracy and allow teachers to do what we put them there for in the first place, which is to teach.

We need to make sure that schools teach the 3 Rs effectively, as these skills are the foundation for a child’s whole school life and career. All too often we read that employers are seeing school leavers without these three basic skills. So much for 13 years of Labour’s ‘Education, Education, Education’.

UKIP would keep open all of the current grammar schools, and encourage more to open.

We would give vouchers which could be used towards private education, so ALL parents, not just a select few, would have a choice where their child is educated.

All children learn differently and at different levels, which in itself creates a challenge. As we all know once armed with the basics(3 Rs), this helps children’s confidence and self-esteem develop.

I also believe that we must educate our way out of the benefits culture, where millions of potential taxpayers can be re-skilled via work programmes, supporting their local communities.

We should identify skills which are missing but are required by employers rather than importing these skills.