§ 26. Brigadier Medlicottasked the Minister of Education if he will consider sending a circular to all local education authorities specifically urging them to include agricultural education in the school curriculum in urban as well as in the rural areas.
§ Mr. TomlinsonSchool authorities generally are already alive to the importance of including agricultural subjects in the curriculum in appropriate cases.
§ Brigadier MedlicottMay we take it that the authorities will have the fullest support and encouragement of the Minister in this very important matter?
§ Mr. TomlinsonCertainly, and if Members who are particularly interested will take the opportunity to visit schools they will see that this is being done.
§ Mr. LevyWill the Minister, on the contrary, resist any suggestion that the few meagre years allotted to education should be used up for the purpose of pre-fabricating agricultural workers, plumbers, dentists or any other categories on purely economic as opposed to educational grounds?
Mrs. ManningWill my right hon. Friend consider, in view of the importance of interesting children in urban schools in agricultural education, the possibility of sending older boys and girls to work in schools in the country for three months in the Summer if they would like to go?
§ Mr. TomlinsonThat is a bigger question which I should like to look into.