Commenting on the passing of motion 26 at the National Education
Union’s Annual Conference, which is being held virtually, Dr Mary
Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union,
said:
“The last ten years has seen a dramatic rise in child poverty
across the UK – and without drastic, immediate action from
Government the numbers will increase. Coronavirus has shone a
light on the reality of child poverty in 2021 – and a clear
majority of the voting public support Government action to end
child poverty.
“Today at Conference we've heard how, throughout the pandemic,
school staff stepped up, taking their nurturing and welfare role
seriously. Schools worked tirelessly to provide healthy,
nutritious food, and the technology and pastoral support many
pupils rely on. Through the NEU partnership with the Daily
Mirror, the Help a Child to Learn campaign shared out over £1.2
million worth of vital learning resources, like pens, pencils and
paper. Learning materials went to 1,260 schools in the most
deprived areas of the country showing that schools, parents and
the public want to work together to tackle poverty.
“World-famous footballers cannot alone fix child poverty, but
they have shown that the public wants to see poverty tackled. The
latest research predicts that by the next General Election,
730,000 more children and young people will be caught in
poverty’s grip. Nearly a fifth of school children are now
eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), and many more from
low-income families surviving on as little as £20.27-a-day miss
out on this crucial support.
“There is a new ambitious mood, created by Covid, where parents
have witnessed the reality of different learning environments at
home. There is broad public support for extending FSM provision
across the school holidays. Tackling hunger and malnutrition
would immediately alleviate a huge amount of anxiety for
families.
“We've got to have high ambitions for every child, and ensure
wellbeing, nurture and learning go hand in hand in school but
poor students need less poverty, urgently, not more schooling.
The Government is pretending to voters that great teaching alone
can lift students out of poverty, and it's simply not true.
Powerful learning for every student must be our goal but we have
got to face the fact that hunger, housing, and the anxiety
created by poverty means poor children will be left behind their
affluent peers. Let's close the gaps in income, food, housing and
tech in order to close the gaps in opportunity and ambition.”
