London:
Keen to raise education standards in the country, particularly in Science and Mathematics, Britain Prime Minister David Cameron has cited the example of India to caution schools not to be complacent and strive for excellence.
In a speech at a school in Norwich on Friday, Mr Cameron outlined his agenda for raising standards in schools at a time when industry leaders lament that many students in Britain leave school without basic skills in Maths, Science and English.
Mr Cameron said, "When China is going through an educational renaissance, when India is churning out science graduates, any complacency now would be fatal for our prosperity. And we've got to be ambitious, too, if we want to mend our broken society".
He said his government had a three-point plan to drive education standards which included ramping up standards, bringing back the values of a good education; secondly, changing the structure of education, allowing new providers in to start schools providing more choice, more competition, and giving schools greater independence; and finally, confronting 'educational failure' head-on.
This month, the Cameron Government's flagship 24 'free schools' began functioning across the country, including the Krishna Avanti Primary School in Leicester.
Life at the Leicester school will include meditation, yoga and vegetarian meals.
Mr Cameron said, "If they're making huge strides in science and math in India, what's to stop us? We've got the resources, we've got the fantastic teachers, we know what works. Now we just have to have the will the energy to make this happen. And believe me, we have it."
According to him, the coalition government had a belief in excellence and an intolerance of failure.
Reminding education leaders and others that Britain was a "modern, developed country", Mr Cameron said, "If they're seeing excellence as standard in cities like Shanghai, why can't we see that in cities like London? If they're soaring up through the world rankings in Estonia, why can't we?"