DURING the general election campaign, The Evening Star will be looking at the policies put forward by the major parties and inviting readers to give us their views on the issues raised.

DURING the general election campaign, The Evening Star will be looking at the policies put forward by the major parties and inviting readers to give us their views on the issues raised.

Today we are highlighting education. Labour put education at the heart of their campaign in 1997 with the slogan education, education, education.

Labour says it is proud of its acheivements over the last eight years.

It says standards are up across the board including the best ever primary school results.

More than a quarter of young people start apprenticeships and Britain has the highest number ever going to university.

There are more teachers in schools than at any point in the last 20 years - 28,000 more than in 1997 and 105,000 new support staff.

The Liberal Democrats say they would invest more in education, would scrap tuition fees for students, and ensure class sizes in primary schools fall.

They would scrap the national curriculum and set minimum standards above which teachers can tailor their classes to pupils' needs.

The Conservatives see the key issue facing schools as discipline in the classroom.

They would give headteachers greater powers to expel disruptive pupils and set rigorous standards.

They also plan to abolish university fees.

We want to know what you think is the priority in education and have set up a webpoll on our website.

Visit it at www.eveningstar.co.uk

We shall be running a webpoll on campaign issues from now until election day - and we will be able to judge which issue has attracted the most interest among our readers.

So visit the webpoll today and let us know what you think.