IELTS - Writing task 2

Children’s education is expensive. In some countries, the government pays some of or all of the costs. Do the advantages outweigh its disadvantages?

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In many countries, governments pay for children’s education in part or in full, acknowledging the expensive costs of levels of education. I believe that this policy brings more advantages than disadvantages.

It is undeniable that funding children’s schooling is not an essay task for a number of reasons. Firstly, doing so will create a burden on the state budget as it would need several years of continuous funding before a child gets to another level of schooling. More importantly, in populous countries, the number of children getting into the school age only keeps rising and adds pressures on the government’s budget. Secondly, corruption can be a concern in some countries where transparency barely exists. For example, in Vietnam, if the government is to subsidize children’s education, corrupt local authorities will have chances to manipulate numbers to steal taxpayers’ money.

Despite the above considerations, I am convinced that supporting families by subsidizing their children’s study offers more good than bad. To begin with, doing so will promote the education for all agenda and equality among students. For example, so many families cannot afford to pay for their children’s schooling, their children may not go to school without the government’s financial support. This results in an inequality in access to basic education that children have to experience from an early age. In addition, the government's subsidize for children’s education heralds their far-sighted vision when they invest in future generations. As many talents come from a poor background, missing the opportunity to get them to go to school equals the missed opportunity to nurture talents to make a great contribution to the country later on.

In conclusion, I am of the opinion that free (or partly free) schooling should be provided for children for the above-mentioned reasons. Moreover, doing so will put words into actions and show that governments are taking the children’s education seriously.