Falling behind

Pupils let down by inequalities

EDUCATIONAL inequalities are holding Yorkshire’s children back to a deeply worrying extent, which is a state of affairs that cannot be allowed to continue.

It is shocking that in some parts of our region, children are two years behind their peers from wealthier areas by the time they take GCSEs.

Unless this gap in achievement is addressed, it threatens to jeopardise our young people’s chances in life.

That is completely unacceptable, and provides further evidence that we are suffering what amounts to discrimination because of the North-South divide in investment.

Young people must not be short-changed in this way, especially now when their education has been so severely disrupted by the closure of schools because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Campaigner Fiona Millar is correct to point to closing the digital divide between the wealthiest and poorest pupils as key to ending this inequality.

The need for that to happen is only made more pressing by the prospect of schools having to introduce some form of flexible teaching when they return in the autumn.

Catching up on the months that have been lost is already a daunting challenge, and the difficulties for pupils in Yorkshire can only be aggravated by a shortage of resources.

The Government has to get a grip on this digital divide and bring it to an end.

It is little short of disgraceful that a gap that had been narrowing, albeit slowly, is now widening again. The young are the future, and they must be given every opportunity.