Private school boss blasts state pupils

Jun 1 2008 By Fariha Karim

STATE schools are in crisis because of uncontrollable children and a lack of leadership - according to a private schools leader.

Chris Parry, the chief executive of the Independent Schools Council warned pupils and teachers are facing anarchy in the classroom.

Parry, who represents half the UK's 2600 fee-paying schools, including Edinburgh's Fettes College and Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire, said: "There are too many leaders but not enough leadership, a lot of managers and not enough management."

He added: "I think there are contexts within which some children can't be controlled."

He said children might flourish if they were taken out of state schools and put in private ones but they would fail again "if they go back to anarchy and chaos" in a troubled home.

Opponents of Parry have accused him of being "ill-informed" and "snobbish".

And a Government spokeswoman said his claims were "deeply misguided" and "insulting" teachers and pupils in the state sector.