The Express expresses itself...again

[faoileag]

Scandal! Waste! Shock horror!

Government spends FIVE thousand pounds on Gaelic DVDs!

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/vie ... -for-tots/

[ArtMacCarmaig]

Dìreach sgudal mar is àbhaist. Tha an riaghaltas a' cosg £4.8 billean air foghlam ach 's e cus a th' ann an £5 mìle air a' Ghàidhlig ann an sealladh an Express. Tha fiù 's colbh bheachd aca mun sgeulachd seo an-diugh. Do-chreidsinneach ...

[Níall Beag]

In case they don't publish it, here's my response:

The total cost of the project is £5840, and the number of children it reaches is 2089. That means it costs £2.80 per child. Does Mr Herbert believe that this is particularly high in comparison to other teaching resources? If so, why did he not provide examples for comparison?

What could we get instead?

According to pressure group the Child Poverty Action group, school meals cost on average around £2. So that £2.80 equates to one-and-a-half school meals.

According to the Scottish government, there are 54,484 teachers in Scotland. That money could have given each of them a one-off bonus of 11p.

Newly qualified teachers start on a salary of £20,937 so we could get 27.89% of a teacher or 49% of a teaching assistant for one year.

I've just looked at the Channel 4 education website, and it turns out that one of their DVDs is around £40, so issuing one Channel 4 DVD to all the 63 schools would cost £2,520.

But Channel 4 are abnormally cheap -- the 17 minute program "Experiments with Water" from classroomvideo.co.uk is £25, so just an hour of material from them would be £75, and would cost £4725 to but for all 63 schools.

Really, there's just no story here.

[Gràisg]

'But Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “With money tight and a need to find cuts, project after project aimed at promoting Gaelic can’t be the priority over essential services. '

Saoilidh mi gu bheil sguelachd ann a chàirdean agus 's e sin gu bheil àite nan cridhe gu seach sonraichte nìmheil aig an Tax Payers' Alliance ris a' Ghàidhlig. Carson a tha sin airson a leithid pìos beag beag airgid?

[Thrissel]

Bho làrach-lìn BhBC:

A school in a tiny Scottish village that costs £108,000 a year to run has only two pupils - and the head teacher is the children's mother. [....] The average cost per child in other Scottish primaries is £3,948 per year. [....] The four members of staff at Inversnaid Primary are the head teacher, a part-time classroom assistant, a part-time teacher and a part-time cleaner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-t ... l-11111187

[Níall Beag]

So this DVD costs 0.071% of the annual budget for each child that's going to see it.

Mo chreach 's a thainig.

[Níall Beag]

The "other" taxpayers' alliance http://taxpayersalliance.org/

Of particular note is their Media Guidelines on Reporting the TaxPayers' Alliance.

[Gràisg]

Tapadh leat a charaid, thug mi sùil air an larach ud. Mhothaich mi gu bheil 'The other Taxpayer's Alliance' a' lorg bheachdan. Chuir mi a-steach na leanas:

'We're debating the Taxpayer's alliance's latest fury towards Gaelic via the Daily express. £2.80 extra per child on a Gaelic education initiative. Scandalous cost of £5840.
They've had a pop at Gaelic before - an easy target to diss an indigenious minority? These kids would still have to be educated in the English only system if they weren't in the Gaelic schools.
http://www.foramnagaidhlig.net/foram/vi ... f=3&t=1590 '

Saoilidh mi gum bu chòir dhuinn taic a lorg san àite ud far a bheil mòran dhaoine a tha mu thràth a' togail ceist mu dheidhinn an fhiosrachadh a tha aig na Taxpayer's Alliance san fharsaingneachd.

[ArtMacCarmaig]

'S math a rinn thu a Nèill. Bhiodh e math nam biodh barrachd dhaoine a' sgrìobhadh dha na pàipearan airson a' cur an aghaidh sgudal a bhios a' nochdadh annta. Bidh mi fhìn a' dol an-sàs anns na sgrìobhaidearan gu math tric gun a bhith a' feuchainn ri litrichean fhaighinn ann an clò, ach bhiodh 'rebuttals' bho dhaoine eile fìor mhath agus taiceil.

[Neas Olc]

LOLWUT Dè tha ùr san t-saoghal? Cha stadaidh iad riamh...