Enfield North MP slams Prime Minister for failing a generation of children

Feryal Clark, MP for Enfield North, has challenged Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions (9 December) on the Government’s failure to recognise and address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s education. 

The Department for Education announced a £76 million Tuition Partners scheme to allow schools to pay for subsidised external tutoring for disadvantaged pupils whose education has been disrupted by the Covid pandemic.

But a study by TES has found that there is only enough money for less than a fifth of disadvantaged pupils to benefit from the scheme.

Feryal Clark MP said:

“The fact that only 1 in 6 of the pupils most likely to fall behind will benefit from the catch-up programmes that the Government has lauded should be a national scandal.

“Boris Johnson and his colleagues have had more than nine months to ensure that educational inequalities are not further entrenched by the pandemic and that disadvantaged pupils are given the opportunities they deserve. That they have yet to engage with schools and teachers to put  workable solutions in place is shameful”.