The company behind the HS2 rail project has been accused of using Orwellian propaganda tactics after it awarded a £280,000 contract to promote the high-speed rail project to children at primary schools on the proposed route.
HS2 Ltd has contracted London-based Hopscotch Consulting to develop an education programme aimed at young children.
Primary schools near the route have received an email from Hopscotch inviting them to “come aboard Zoom Rail, HS2’s Primary School Engagement Programme”.
Materials for teachers from HS2 Ltd’s existing education programme, seen by the Guardian, include an exercise that encourages pupils to assess four possible routes for the “Zoom Rail project”.
“With no perfect answer, students must weigh the competing advantages and disadvantages, balancing community, environmental and economic factors to make the best choice,” the task description for teachers reads.
“One of the four options – Route D – is the preferred route. This is not the only acceptable ‘right answer’. However, students who have closely understood the opportunities and constraints faced by Zoom Rail as it tries to strike the best balance are more likely to opt for the preferred route.”
In one activity aimed at younger children, pupils are urged to create their own “powertrain” by cutting out a template of a locomotive and making it move with balloons.
Whether individual schools choose to use the education materials provided, and how teachers use them, is entirely up to the school . But anti-HS2 campaigners have accused HS2 Ltd of trying to brainwash the children who will be most affected by the proposed route for the high-speed line.
“Just when we thought HS2 Ltd couldn’t sink any lower, we find they are spending quarter of a million on targeting primary schoolchildren along the route of HS2 for brainwashing,” said Joe Rukin, campaign manager at Stop HS2.
“The concept of state-sponsored propaganda, which is tailored so children in communities impacted by HS2 must come to the conclusion HS2 is a brilliant idea, is truly Orwellian.”
Jonathan Pile, a spokesman for Yorkshire against HS2, whose family home in Crofton, Wakefield, is 265 metres from the proposed high-speed train line, said that many teachers in the region were furious that the company had decided to target schools.
“If this wasn’t so sinister and unacceptable it would be funny, but to the hundreds of families facing enforced relocation by HS2, and the thousands being financially blighted and facing years of noise and construction pollution, it is anything but a joke,” he said.
A spokesperson for HS2 said the goal of the education programme was to “provide Britain with a legacy of skills and experience that will benefit the whole industry.
“We are committed to ensuring that young people receive access to learning and skills opportunities which will enable them to play a role in the construction, development and ongoing operation of HS2 and other transport and infrastructure projects.
“We’re 17 years away from introducing high-speed rail between the Midlands and the north of England, so it’s right that we plan ahead and help young people to develop the skills and knowledge they need to take advantage of the opportunities available. Research shows that early awareness of the value of Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects can remove gender barriers and help to reduce skills shortages in areas as diverse as the environment and engineering.”
