As for the lack of teaching time, how about cutting out some of the nonessential curriculum, such as bike safety, that currently takes up much of the school day, and refocusing on the basics, such as reading, writing and arithmetic?

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Schools turned out clerks who functioned as interchangeable parts in a vast bureaucracy where the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic were key.

CNN: What if students learn faster without teachers?

But refugee girls are now being taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, in a school sponsored by an organisation that has campaigned for women's rights in Afghanistan.

BBC: Afghan girls' second chance

And the figures still show 50-odd per cent of pupils at the age of 11 are not by your own light properly equipped for secondary school in reading, writing and particularly in arithmetic.

BBC: EDUCATION

But 76% agreed with proposals to test the skills of trainee teachers in the areas of reading, writing, arithmetic and new technology.

BBC: Teachers 'reject payment by results'