Punch and Judy show little progress

The modicum of goodwill among deputies which made a brief appearance in the immediate aftermath of the Education debate has disappeared.

The tears have dried and the raw anger has subsided, to be replaced by cold fury laced with a touch of contempt.

It is no surprise that the rapprochement has not lasted. The two sides have not found common ground for four years.

Just as the ‘Gang of Four’ did not trust the former Education committee in 2018, the same is true now in reverse.

Stuck in the middle, as ever, are the pupils, teachers and parents. Many wanted the two-school plans halted, none will have wanted it replaced by a war of words.

The signs are not good for next week’s States meeting – assuming, in the light of a rapidly-changing health crisis, that it goes ahead.

Perhaps the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak – described yesterday by the president of Policy & Resources as the most significant public health challenge since the Second World War – will lend perspective to the debate. Education is important, but it is not life and death.

Perhaps. More likely it will be more of the same.

Whatever positives the Education committee went in search of when dragging such a contentious issue back before a group of deputies still seething from the last four-day debate are receding into the gloom.

Yesterday’s letter from the requerants will turn the focus from the shortlist of secondary transformation models to a vote of confidence which Education has effectively called upon itself.

Instead of talking soberly about the value of three 11-18 schools versus three 11-16 with a sixth form college the few impartial deputies will be asked to adjudicate in a Punch and Judy show.

That’s not the way to do it.

Has Education ignored the States requete? Were the uniforms already ordered or could they have been stopped?

And all the while the weeks tick away until June’s election – again Covid-19 willing – and the election of a new committee.

Both sides say they want to move this debate along. Neither shows much sign of knowing how.