Ruth Langsford slams Rishi Sunak’s decision to make maths mandatory: ‘I don’t care about it’

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The Loose Women panellists have slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to make maths lessons mandatory for pupils in England up to the age of 18.

Wednesday’s panel on the ITV daytime show – which consisted of Ruth Langsford, Frankie Bridge, Carol McGiffin and Kelle Bryan – all agreed that education is ‘important’ but insisted there are currently more pressing issues that need to be addressed.

Ruth, 62, addressed fellow panellist Kelle, 47, as she said: ‘I was surprised when I saw this this morning. I thought, “Really? That’s your first speech of this year?” And I’m not saying it’s not important but, right now, I don’t care about it.

‘Right now, we care about the NHS, we care about strikes, we care about the cost of living,’ she continued as the studio audience clapped in agreement.

Carol, 62, also ripped into 42-year-old Sunak’s decision to make it a priority, saying: ‘As many people have already said, it’s not really top of the agenda when you consider what else that is going on in the world.

‘It’s knocked everything else off the front pages and it’s just like it’s the most important and revolutionary thing, but I remember Tony Blair giving it the old “education, education, education” back then, which was years ago and still nothing’s changed seeing as the government are saying that 60% of pupils are leaving school with hardly any maths education whatsoever.’

Ruth Langsford said she ‘doesn’t care’ about Rishi’s plans to make maths mandatory (Picture: ITV)

She continued: ‘Now, the point is, take away the fact that it’s a massive distraction from everything that is really important and super bad that’s going on at the moment, what would be the point? That’s what I would like to know.

‘When I was at school, some kids were good at maths and could do maths. I was really good at maths, it’s the only thing I was good at. But there were some kids who just couldn’t grasp it, they just couldn’t do it and I don’t know what forcing kids to stay on for another two years learning maths is going to do.

‘All it’s going to do is waste their time when they could be learning more about something they enjoy or are good at.’

The Prime Minister wants all pupils to continue studying maths until they are 18 (Picture: Jacob King/PA Wire)

Ruth then suggested Sunak will announce children will continue to learn subjects they enjoy alongside maths, which is needed more now that more jobs involve technology.

Carol replied: ‘They should know by the age of 16 whether or not they’ve got the ability for maths and whether there’s any point in carrying on.’

Former The Saturdays singer Frankie, 33, joined in the debate, adding: ‘I’ve got such an anxiety around maths, the minute you put out more than two numbers to me, I think, “Oh, I’m not going to know what to do,” or silly things like in a restaurant when you’re splitting a bill I’ll get my calculator out or just let everyone else figure it out.

Carol McGiffin also slammed Rishi’s plans (Picture: ITV)

‘So I do think it’s an important thing, even if it helps people with their money at home and helping you figure out how a mortgage works, if you can count properly that will help. But I think maybe that’s something that’s more important. We don’t get taught to get on the property ladder or how to properly look after your money.’

Kelle agreed as she recalled not knowing how to work numbers when she started up her own business.

She said: ‘For me, maths is a very good skill, it’s something that is transferable through many different job choices and career choices. For me, as a person in business, it was really difficult because I started out as a one-woman-band, I’m dyslexic and I’ve got dyscalculia [dyslexia for numbers] as well.

‘It was always going to be difficult, I would look at balance sheets and spreadsheets and look at the accounts and try to organise paying clients and work out percentages. I’d give it a good go but I’d always ask someone to check it for me to make sure I was right.

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‘Now, had I had a better understanding of maths, maybe I would have done better but I do have a disability in that sense so it would always be more difficult.’

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX

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