Ellee Seymour

It seems government’s solution to make maths, science and languages more appealing for school kids is to hire PR agencies.

I find it absurd that Ed Balls’ Department for Children, Schools and Families is launching two major PR drives to encourage teenagers to study these subjects.

A report in the latest PR Week states how two PR agencies have been hired to improve the popularity of maths, science and languages. During a three-year campaign, Fishburn Hedges will target 13-17 year olds to show the attractive career opportunities that can result from studying maths and science - such as becoming lighting experts at music festivals and Formula One engineers.

This is what worries me, they seem to be dumbing down the relevance of two very important subjects. Is there a shortage of lighting experts at music festivals or motor racing engineers? Or is there a shortage of scientists to work on research projects to tackle climate change and other global issues? Will that be part of their message too?

Meanwhile, Band & Brown’s brief is to increase the number of young people studying modern foreign languages after the age of 14. The 15 month campaign will launch this summer.

This comes within days of a review announcing that speaking foreign languages in a GCSE exam was too stressful for pupils and could be dropped from the exam.

Instead of trying to understand the reasons why learning a foreign language is declining in popularity, as well as science and maths, Ed Balls is using taxpayers’ money on PR to try and influence school kids. Why not use this money, I imagine tens of thousands of pounds, on appointing more teaching staff, providing extra training if necessary, as well as briefing careers advisors on getting the right messages across?

Obviously, I’m all for positive and proactive PR, but it has to make sense, and this clearly does not.

*Also on the subject of education, I’ve been following reports about university drop out figures reaching almost 25% with particular interest as my eldest son David is planning to go to uni in September.

It seems many students have been doing their calculations and worked out it’s not going to be worth their while financially, that the extra money they get as a graduate will not offset the £25,000 debt they may end up with at the end of their course.

Then there is the little contact time between student and lecturer. I visited several uni open days in the last few months, and it is not as high as the 14 hours quoted in this Sunday Times report. From memory, it was more 10-12 hours. This came as a big surprise to me, I was expecting more.

David wants to study Economics at Hull University which we visited again on Saturday. Economics graduates are estimated to be among the top wage earners once they enter the real working world. So hopefully there will be some financial security for David, and not just the worry of a huge debt around his neck.

Yes, I know Hull is John Prescott and Alan Johnson territory, but this will be the last thing on David’s mind as he enjoys student life. The university’s Business School is impressive and everyone we met seemed friendly and happy. I know several people who have been to Hull Uni and nobody has a bad word to say about it. And it’s also much cheaper there too, beer costs around £1.30 a pint, according to David’s research! His campus accommodation looks decent and, including a hot evening meal and cleaner, costs less than £90 a week. The bus fare is a fraction of what he pays in Cambridgeshire.

I do sympathise with unis struggling to attract good caliber students, of desperately trying to get students to sign up to boost their coffers. We visited one which said they would accept lower A’level results, which is why standards are dropping, and students can’t cope once they get there.

There can’t be an octogenarian in the land who doesn’t envy Bruce Forsyth’s energy and panache, his quick wit and adoring family.

There is lots we can learn from Brucie about old age, that music, laughter and love is the recipe for enduring happiness and good health. both physically and mentally.

I particularly liked the fact that at his star studded 80th birthday party held at the Dorchester, he invited his gardener and chauffeur along too, the ordinary people that make a difference to his everyday life. And how many 80-year-olds can include Miss England and Miss Peuto Rico as their guests!

Let’s hope his talents are rewarded along the same lines as Sir Michael Parkinson for giving so many people years of entertainment, for proving that you don’t need to be smutty to boost audience ratings, that you can still appeal to all generations of viewers at a time when ageism is rife. It’s personality that carries you through life.

So Brucie, I can’t resist saying it: “It’s nice to see you, to see you….

And let’s hope we will continue to see you for a few more years to come.

Here is one very good reason why we need to promote science in our schools and keep our scientists in Britain - to work on ground-breaking, innovating research projects which will help feed the world’s expanding population in future years by tackling some of the most damaging and widespread pests, diseases and harsh environmental conditions which can devastate crop yields.

Twelve innovative and vital projects have received £7 million funding to do just that from the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council and the Department for International Development, including the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge. I went to the launch last week and promised you an update about the awards. More than 250 proposals were received, and were whittled down to the final dozen.

NIAB will collaborate with the International Rice Research Institute, based in the Philippines for research on rice genetics that will lead to the creation of climate resistant strains of rice for Africa and Asia.

It is vital work. Rice is the staple food for over two billion people, but lack of water and disease limit its production across the developing world. There is an urgent need for new breeds of rice that can cope with changing climatic conditions and to improve food security across the developing world. Food prices are rising globally, and is beginning to cause severe hardship and suffering.

These are some of the other projects which also received funding:

Halting armyworm rampage with biological pesticide - the African armyworm is a major migratory insect pest, which feeds voraciously on cereal crops. Using a radical new solution, researchers from the UK, Canada and Tanzania will investigate the use of a naturally occurring virus in armyworms with a view to using it as a biological pesticide.

Defeating witchweed famine threat - subsistence crops relied on by billions are at constant risk of attack by the noxious parasitic plant witchweed. Researchers the UK, India and Senegal are identifying ways to protect the livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest farmers by developing resistant crops.

Improving food security for 500M people - Pearl millet provides food security for half a billion people in Africa and Asia. The crop is well adapted to harsh environments but climate change is threatening the predictable yields that subsistence farmers rely on. Scientists from the UK, India and Ghana will work to improve pearl millet’s genetic tolerance to drought.

Fighting nematode worms with fungus - Root-knot nematodes are microscopic worms that feed on plant roots, stunting their growth and causing yield losses of US$70 billion each year. UK scientists and their Kenyan colleagues are harnessing a natural soil fungus to destroy the worms’ eggs reducing damage to crops.

Reducing arsenic levels in rice - arsenic contamination of rice paddies is a major problem in many parts of Asia, caused by irrigation with arsenic contaminated groundwater, pollution resulting from base and precious metal mining and the use of municipal solid waste as fertilizer. Researchers from the UK, India, Bangladesh and China will look at types of rice which have lower take-up levels of inorganic arsenic to unravel the genetic basis for this desirable characteristic.

More bananas for Africa - nearly one-third of the sub-Saharan African population is severely under-nourished and 27% of the daily calories intake comes from plantains and other types of cooking bananas. However, up to 70% of plantains are often damaged or destroyed by mematode worms, which feed on its roots. Scientists from the UK and Uganda plan to breed plantains resistant to these worms which will be made widely available to growers to improve their yield and ultimately the dietary intake of millions.