According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), 66 percent of the 11,000 principals interviewed said that they will have to fire, for example, assistant teachers, or reduce their working hours.

Half of those surveyed admitted, that they would be considering reducing the number of teachers, or alternatively, giving them fewer hours of classes, and 47 percent would do without therapy, counseling and mental health services offered in schools.

Schools are being hit by a “perfect storm” of costs, with principals finding themselves facing enormous electric and gas bills and increasingly expensive resources and supplies as they try to balance budgets, said NAHT General Secretary Paul Whiteman.

According to Whiteman, as a result of the austerity measures imposed by Conservative governments over the last decade, thousands of schools might fall into deficit unless they cut down on staff.

Education is really in danger, said Whiteman, who assured that the anger and desperation felt by the members of the NAHT, who mainly run elementary schools, is unprecedented in the country.

The Deputy General Secretary of the National Education Union, Kevin Courtney, said that schools have been “on their knees” for too long, and cannot withstand another era of austerity, and added that the government must change its approach in financing education and invest in our future.

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