Lord R.A. Butler was the President of the Board of Education in 1942 under the chairmanship of Lord Fleming. This Committee was requested to find out ways and means for establishing a close relationship between the general education of England and Wales and Public Schools.
The Committee studied the condition of the Public Schools and gave the following recommendations:
1. The students should be given admission in Public Schools in terms of their abilities and interests. The financial position of the guardians should not be an impediment in their admission to Public Schools.
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2. The Committee recommended that the various schools should be classified into two groups – ‘A’ and ‘B’.
Under the ‘A’ group were to be placed those schools which obtained direct State grants. Board of Education should recognise these schools as Associated Schools. These schools should be made either free or the fees for students should be determined according to the financial position of the guardians. The fees for Boarding Houses, too, should be decided likewise.
The Local Education Authorities may get certain seats reserved in these schools and should pay the fees for them. This rule should be followed in connection with reservation in the Boarding Houses also. The Local Education Authorities reserving such seats in ‘A type of schools may also get at least one third seats reserved for them in the management also.
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Under the ‘B’ group were kept all the ordinary types of Public Schools. All these Public Schools were required to teach according to the national policy of general education. If need be 5 per cent of the seats should be reserved for graduates of those primary schools which had received grants at least for two years. The Board of Education started a system of giving bursaries to the students of ‘B’ type schools. These bursaries were to be decided by a Provincial Committee.
The bursary for a student was adequate to meet all his expenditures in school. But this bursary was to be awarded only when the guardian was prepared to pay his usual contribution. The guardian could try for admission of his ward in any ‘B’ type school. Through the Local Education Authorities some seats could be got reserved in the ‘B’ schools for the students of the ‘A’ type schools.
Thus the Fleming Committee did not try to introduce any new system of education. It only tried to bring in a harmony between the old and new schools. However, the public was not satisfied with this arrangement, as it still thought that the Public Schools were available only for a privileged few.
The introduction of the bursary system worried the schools which were conducted by the State as they thought that the more intelligent students would be a financial loss to them. So the provisions made by the Fleming Committee were bitterly criticised. Thus the objectives with which the Committee was appointed could not be achieved.