Union says schools overwhelmed by funding cuts and increasing child poverty. Teachers have warned that growing levels of poverty across England are having a devastating effect on pupils, with more children going hungry and being unable to afford warm clothes this winter. The findings from the National Education Union paint a harrowing picture of day-to-day poverty in schools. Teachers say that a lack of food, poor housing and unsuitable clothes are overwhelming pupils and cash-strapped schools. Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the union, described “a Dickensian picture” of poverty: “The government is out of touch with the distressing new reality of children’s daily lives: with what it means to live without enough money for basics such as food, shoes and adequate clothing. “[It] has failed to recognise the human cost of its cuts to schools and other children’s services and to the social security system, and its failure to address the in-work poverty faced by one in five workers.” Schools have been hard hit by per-pupil funding cuts implemented by central government. Three out of 10 maintained secondary schools now have budget deficits of nearly £500,000. Read more.
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