Schools across Britain are bracing themselves for the biggest education cuts in a generation, expected to begin with a cull of quangos (quasi-government NGOs). Becta, the agency for ICT in education, and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) are at the head of the queue for the chop.

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government which was sworn in May has committed itself to finding £6 billion (Rs.40,800 crore) of cuts in this year’s (2010-11) spending as a down-payment on reducing the UK’s £163 billion (Rs.1100,400 crore) budget deficit. Legislation is expected to be used to abolish the agencies. However teachers’ leaders have warned that the potential cuts are leading to “anxiety” in schools.

But the government has insisted the reductions will be confined to “wasteful spending”. Says David Laws, chief secretary of the Treasury: “We can make these cuts while protecting the quality of key frontline services.” But school spending as a whole is no longer ring-fenced and the newly named Department for Education (DfE) may be expected to take its share of the pain.

Cutting some of the many education quangos will help to save the department money in the long term. The previous Labour government had already planned to slash £45 million (Rs.306 crore) from Becta’s £112.5 million (Rs.761 crore) annual budget over the next two years. Becta argues its work to promote the effective use of technology helps to save money for the education system as a whole. But that may not be enough to save it.

The worst is also expected at QCDA. Last July prime minister David Cameron had said the agency “must go” and former chief executive, Andrew Hall, has already jumped ship to the safety of an exam board. A recent meeting saw QCDA staff told not to communicate with the outside world on anything other than regulatory matters.

But any immediate savings from abolishing the agencies may be wiped out by the cost of staff redundancies. Comments John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders: “Schools and college leaders are extremely anxious about the future funding situation. They will be examining the Queen’s Speech both for signs of early cuts and for the expenditure of any funds on government projects which could reduce the size of the pot distributed to institutions.”

Adds Becta chief executive, Stephen Crowne: “Becta’s role is to serve the government of the day, and we look forward to discussing our future contribution with ministers.”

(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)