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Watch as Sunak relaunches plan to make maths education until 18 compulsory

Oliver Browning
Monday 17 April 2023 05:54 EDT
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Watch as Rishi Sunak gives a speech on education on Monday 17 April.

The prime minister relaunched his plan to make maths education until 18 compulsory, suggesting the UK possesses an inherent “anti-maths mindset”.

Mr Sunak addressed students and teachers in north London, arguing that a failure to consider numeracy as basic a skill as reading is detrimental to the UK economy.

“We’ve got to change this anti-maths mindset. We’ve got to start prizing numeracy for what it is – a key skill every bit as essential as reading,” Mr Sunak was set to say, according to extracts of the speech briefed in advance by Downing Street.

“I won’t sit back and allow this cultural sense that it’s OK to be bad at maths to put our children at a disadvantage. My campaign to transform our national approach to maths is not something ‘nice to have’. It’s about changing how we value maths in this country.”

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