WHILST most media attention has justifiably shifted from Brexit to our more immediate problems with Russia, the situation in key pillars of the welfare state cause concern.

The agonies of the NHS have been recently highlighted with chronic underfunding and staff shortages, yet the challenges facing education are like the tip of an iceberg largely unseen.

What are the problems facing our teachers and children?

The first problem is the increasing squeeze on funding.

Recent reports suggest that 26 per cent of local authority secondary schools are in the red, up from 8.8 per cent three years ago.

In theory, all schools should be running balanced budgets.

If the school overspends then it has to cut teachers to bring the budget back into balance, as the vast proportion of the budget is staff costs.

Government funding has not kept pace with inflation.

Furthermore, the introduction of a new funding formula resulted in some schools suffering major cuts especially the smaller rural schools.

There are other anomalies which impact on Hampshire and Andover that will surprise many.

London schools are significantly better resourced, yet I would argue that their costs do not justify this difference in funding.

Andover is not a cheap place to live in. The situation will get worse unless the Government or county council provide more money.

The second concern is the inspection regime. I accept that schools should be subject to some formal oversight to ensure they are fit for purpose.

However, I share the view of many teachers and fellow school governors that Ofsted is itself not fit for purpose.

Over the past three years, inspections have been curtailed and many staff sacked.

The result is a curtailed and box-ticking regime which is limited in scope. Moreover, many schools have not had inspections for years, and many are well overdue. They are not the equivalent of MOTs for our cars.

The Lib Dem policy of getting rid of Ofsted and replacing it with an Inspectorate which is more relevant to the needs of our educational system is no bad thing.

Finally, we have to ask ourselves what a modern educational system has to deliver?

What skills and development do we wish to see in our children?

Clearly, we need to get rid of useless bureaucratic exercises.

Too much time is consumed in unnecessary exams largely irrelevant to final outcomes instead of teaching time.

That is not to say that students should not be assessed, this should be done to serve the interests of the students and not a bureaucracy. Good schools monitor pupil progress continuously.

Much is made of the Finnish educational system, which delivers the best results across the planet, but it does not have formal exams until 16.

Less formal exams means more time for education. We also need to focus more on the arts, creativity and problemsolving.

In the future, our children will be competing with robots, and we should be playing to our strengths. Limiting them to rote learning is equipping them to be robots.

Luigi Gregori, Charlton Road, Andover.