Commenting on The ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis on schools, an NFER report which finds that nearly one-third of primary school teachers are seeing more pupils showing up to class hungry, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"This is an issue that NEU members have been highlighting for many years. The fact that children are arriving at school hungry, with unsuitable clothes and having to be supported by teachers out of their own pockets, says everything we need to know about the impact that child poverty and the cost-of-living crisis is having on children and young people.
"It is even more shocking that child poverty has grown during this Government's 14 years in office. It is now the case that 9 out of every 30 pupils in a classroom are growing up trapped in poverty. This daily struggle against hunger and worries about family finances seriously affects children’s ability to concentrate and learn during the school day.
"The NEU in our General Election manifesto for education is calling on all political parties to commit to ending child poverty starting with the removal of the two child benefit cap and guarantee a free, nutritious school lunch for every child. The Free School Meals for All programme recently introduced for primary pupils in London has already proven to be a success and goes some way to alleviating the inequalities that hunger and poverty create between pupils. It is also welcomed by parents, and surveys show that parents outside of London want to see it rolled out nationwide.
"With such high levels of poverty now existing across the country, we cannot wait any longer for change. In the twenty-first century, in one of the richest countries in the world, no child should endure day after day of grinding poverty."