MODERN parents may be prepared to educate their daughters privately, but they remain more generous with their sons when it comes to school fundraising.

Almost as many girls as boys go to private schools, but according to headteachers they continue to struggle for funds.

It is an open secret that parents will not give as much to their daughters’ schools - but senior staff are reluctant to speak out for fear of offending their customers.

One deputy head said it was “well known around the circuit that when raising money for girls it was more difficult to attract contributions”.

He said that although things were starting to change, “boys’ parents have been more willing to put their money into the future of boys’ schools”.

However, not everybody agrees that parents are to blame. Carole Evans, headmistress of Birkenhead high school and president of the Girls’ Schools Association, said: “Parents have taken on board that the education of their daughters is as important as the education of their sons. But boys schools have a very strong old-boys network who can make very generous donations. I do not think that in girls’ schools we have yet set up that very strong network.” Old girls may also not be working, she pointed out.

And Sue Marsden, principal of fundraising company PFC, said the gap in parents’ giving was “pure mythology” and often used as an excuse by schools for the failure of poorly thought-out fundraising campaigns.

At Craigmyle, another fundraising company, managing director Mark Jefferies said: “When girls’ schools say they find it more difficult to raise money, I ask whether they are putting the same effort and resources into the process.”

Fees for girls are also lower. Members of the Girls’ Schools Association charge, on average, pound;2,533 a term, while boys’ school members of the Head Masters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, charge 17 per cent more at pound;2,959.

But commentators are reluctant to ascribe this to parents’ willingness to shell out more for boys.

Dick Davison of the Independent Schools Council said the differential could be partly due to boys’ schools tending to have buildings which were more expensive to maintain.

And Alison Graham, chairman of the Association of Development Directors in Independent Schools, said there could be more competition between girls’

schools or they might be more efficiently run.

However, top-flight girls’ schools can be just as expensive as famous boys’

establishments. Roedean, which charges fees of up to pound;6,425, and Benenden, pound;6,100 a term, are among the dearest in the country.