Created on: 23 Dec 2024 | Last modified: 24 Dec 2024
The EIS has welcomed recent steps by the Scottish Government to reduce the impact of poverty on young people, but warned that much more needs to be done urgently to eradicate the damage being caused by poverty every day.
Particularly welcome was the recent budget announcement of the Scottish Government’s intent to remove the two-child benefit cap, a damaging policy that has increased the financial pressures on many families living in poverty across the country.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “The Scottish Government has pledged to make eradicating poverty its defining mission, and this is an aim that the EIS very much supports. Far too many young people live with the consequences of poverty every single day, and the impact on all aspects of their lives can be absolutely devastating for them.
"In our schools, teachers frequently witness the damage that poverty does to young people’s educational experience and life chances and, despite their best efforts, schools often cannot mitigate these impacts without external interventions and sufficient resources.
"No young person should lose out on the chance to participate in, enjoy and benefit fully from learning at school because of family income; failure to invest sufficiently in quality education rooted in social justice is a costly economic error, and these are the reasons why tackling poverty at source and mitigating its effects are so important."
Ms Bradley continued, “The EIS very much welcomed the budget announcement that the Scottish Government will seek to end the two-child benefit cap – a lingering legacy of the past UK Conservative government that the UK Labour government has yet to commit to overturning.
"We understand that discussions are underway between the Scottish and UK governments as to how this can be taken forward in Scotland but would question why the plan to scrap the cap will not benefit children and families, in reality, until 2026.
"The EIS would wish to have seen immediate mitigation of the two-child benefit cap given the financial hardship of thousands of families in Scotland right now."
Ms Bradley added, “The Scottish Government also made a commitment in its budget statement to expand free school meal provision to some children in Primaries 6 and 7 on a means-tested basis - modest progress towards strengthening the recently watered-down commitment to rolling out universal free school meals to all primary children promised in the last manifesto.
"Whilst the most deprived young people in P6 and P7 are likely to be better covered by the budget commitment, as everyone knows, the damaging impact of poverty on young people does not stop at the age of 12.
"The EIS firmly believes that all young people – in both primary and secondary education – should have the right to a free, healthy lunch during their learning day. School dining hall capacity has been cited as a barrier to the delivery of universal free school meals – but that is an issue that can be overcome with creative approaches such as those employed when schools were closed during the heights of the pandemic, if there is the political will at both local and national level to do so.
"It is difficult to understand why any politician would not wish young people’s right to food to be realised in school.”
Ms Bradley concluded, "There must be a shared, solid ambition to ensure that poverty is prevented from stalking the lives of Scotland’s children and young people.
"We are, sadly, quite a way off from achieving this ambition at the present time whilst 1in 4 children experience it. Desire to tackle this issue is an essential starting point but the requisite political and economic decisions need to follow.
"Our young people are the future of the country, and we all must make every effort to ensure the best possible environment for them to learn and to grow, both inside the school gates and beyond."
Audio clip on the release from EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley: