Letters

THE claim by headteachers that the shortage of teachers in England "has become so dire it makes the country resemble a third world nation", (Echo, June 1) is shocking and disgraceful.

What has happened to our schools? Why do teachers leave so frequently?

Of course, the majority of pupils are well behaved and do not cause trouble, but the escalating problem does indicate that there is a sizeable minority who are getting more of an upper hand and are ruining our schools for everyone, pupils and teachers alike.

Many of the problems stem from too much emphasis on "pupil power". Unlike children in third world countries, there is little real hunger for a good education. Instead, there is concern for "my rights".

There are arguments about wearing school uniform, wearing jewellery, body piercing, using mobile phones in class, etc. None of these things have anything to do with education, but they give the difficult pupils opportunity to create disturbance and difficult parents respond by attacking the school.

It is hard to see how the situation can be improved without a complete overhaul of attitudes on all sides. Pupils need to recognise that they are attending school to be taught and they are highly privileged to receive free education, something children in third world countries would give anything for.

Teachers need to recognise the privilege they have in training the next generation of citizens of our country. The job is very important and only the best is good enough.

To ensure that the school functions in an orderly manner, there needs to be strong leadership; "teacher power" restored and the troublesome ones have their power to disrupt taken from them. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

CANCER CARE

MANY of you will know from personal experience how the care and support of a Macmillan nurse can make a real difference to how someone copes with cancer.

Our 2,000 nurses do a wonderful job - as do the many thousands of volunteers who give willingly of their time, skills and energy to raise the money needed to fund the nurses.

In National Volunteers Week, I should like to pay tribute to Macmillan's loyal band of volunteers throughout Teesside who turn out in all weathers to hold a collecting tin, organise coffee mornings, or think up other imaginative ways of raising money for the charity. Without their efforts, Macmillan could not carry out its much-needed work.

New volunteers are always very welcome - either to help with fundraising and administration or perhaps work in a cancer centre. If you would like to find out more, please ring me on (01904) 651700. - Wilma Burniston, Macmillan Cancer Relief, Fundraising Manager, Teesside.

SAUDI ARABIA

TE COOK'S letter (HAS, June 6) is to be applauded. If any Saudi Arabian coming to this country committed a crime and was punished by our laws and the government of his country objected to it, there would be outcries here.

So why should we object to someone in their country being punished for breaking their laws, just because they are from our country. They knew the law and broke it and should face the punishment.

Saudi Arabia is practically a crime-free society because criminals are heavily punished and victims see justice done. Hardly anyone there has heard of a burglar alarm and, when parking a car, the windows are wound down and the ignition key left inside. Any thief stealing a car would know that the punishment for theft is amputation of the hand.

In this country, if one left the ignition key in a car and the windows down one would be told that it was their own fault that their car was stolen, not the thief's fault for stealing it.

The Saudis believe that being drunk would, for a time, take the drunk's mind from the thoughts of Allah so it does have some religious connotation if someone supplies illegal alcohol to someone of their faith. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

PETER MULLEN

PETER Mullen is rather boring in his constant knocking of the Labour Party and Tony Blair.

He has a conveniently short memory about the dreary Thatcher years, when industry like coal mines were deliberately decimated ("We don't need coal any more"), railways privatised, with predictable efficiency loss.

And I'm afraid the NHS will always need more of everything, with people's expectations rising, because of new drug discoveries/machinery. He should stick to the God slot. - FM Atkinson, Shincliffe.

TYNE TUNNEL

I READ with surprise of the start of a campaign against the building of the second Tyne Tunnel for vehicles.

The present tunnel houses the only piece of the A19 which is not dual carriageway, creating totally unacceptable bottlenecks during rush hours, with all the implications for air pollution, congestion, excess journey times, frustration and stress. Bus operators are reluctant to use it.

Even if the Labour Government's targets for reduction in car usage are met, the present tunnel cannot cope. Cars are here to stay, and must be catered for.

However, I agree wholeheartedly with any efforts that can be made to encourage more walking and cycling, the use of smaller environmentally-friendly cars, car sharing, cheaper tunnel fees for fuller cars, much better public transport, freight onto the railways, using the river for more journeys, more use of the pedestrian and cyclist tunnels with bus link ups on both sides of the river, park and ride, congestion fees and workplace buses. North Tyneside Council already subsidises a bus from Four Lane Ends Metro to its offices in Killingworth.

Instead of campaigning against the building of the new tunnel which is desperately needed, why doesn't the Campaign Group work with Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority and North and South Tyneside Councils to achieve some of the objectives it claims to support. - Muriel Green, Vice-Chairman PTA, Wallsend.