Members of the expatriate community should stop moaning about proposals for a reduction in government subsidies for the English Schools Foundation (ESF) and a threatened increase in school fees, which they claim would be inevitable if the plan goes ahead.

Instead they should concentrate on why the fees are so high in the first place. The reason is simple. Teaching staff who work for the ESF are grossly overpaid.

The recent employment of many fine and highly-qualified English-language teachers for the Native English-speaking Teachers programme on employment packages with much lower salaries and benefits, compared to those enjoyed by ESF staff, proves that there is simply no need to pay the large salaries and benefits enjoyed by the latter.