ESC is back at rock bottom

The Education, Sport & Culture Committee is licking its wounds, some of them undoubtedly self-inflicted, after a run of humiliating defeats in the States Chamber, the latest, in part, due to its deliberate approach not to attempt to turn the Funding and Investment Plan debate into a Health v Education funding war.

Although the committee narrowly kept its Ozouets Campus plans on the table, when it came to the crunch any prospect of funding it – let alone actually getting it built – melted away.

Now the committee faces more pain, under pressure to roll back on the move of the Sixth Form Centre to La Mare de Carteret, and with the only avenues left to turn seemingly leaving them having to kowtow to their political opponents.

Politically, Education was at rock bottom when it faced meltdown over the public and political opposition to the two-school model pre-Covid. Now, despite the advantage of making a fresh start, the committee is virtually back there again. Its own decisions over buildings have placed the committee even further back than when they started, and facing a climbdown which is going to leave the future of state-provided education in doubt for years to come – while teachers, pupils and parents struggle on.