Minister: cut teenage pregnancies with army cadets
The Telegraph
Army cadet units could help cut the rate of teenage pregnancies, an education minister has said.
Lord Nash said teenage girls from single-parent families who had “never experienced the love of a man” could be deterred from forming “unsuitable relationships” if they enrolled in a cadet unit.
David Cameron, who attended the Combined Cadet Force at Eton, has set a target of creating 100 new units in state schools by September in order to build “character, grit and determination” in teenagers, thereby improving their exam results.
Some 65 new units have been approved since 2010, with another 54 set to open over the next nine months.
They are funded in part by fines levied on major banks from the Libor rate-rigging scandal.
Lord Nash, a Conservative peer, said children become troubled because they lack a basic routine at home, with no fixed meal times, bed times or expectations to complete homework.
He told the Lords: “It is young people in schools in the most disadvantaged communities who most need greater strength of character to cope with the challenge they face to succeed in life. Contrast the organisation, routine, structure and discipline which comes with a service life with the chaotic home lives that sadly so many of our children and young people experience today, with no structure, routine, and a background that is literally scatty,” he said…
See more: cadets, military in schools/colleges, character building, education, gender, military ethos
