A CAMPAIGNER against poverty has explained to politics students on Teesside how a lack of education is holding back the prospects of children from the UK’s poorest families.
Gareth Jenkins, director of UK Poverty, Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children, met with students from The King’s Academy, in Coulby Newham, to talk about the challenges faced by children growing up in families who live below the poverty line.
He described how over a quarter of children from poorer backgrounds leave primary school unable to read with 130,000 children each year starting secondary school already behind in their education.
“Reading is essential to doing well in school,” said Mr Jenkins.
“It is the fundamental building block to being able to go on and do well in life.
“If these children do not get the help they need to it means that they are less likely to succeed in school and will struggle with the rest of their education and career.”
Mr Jenkins set out the details of a new Save the Children campaign Read On Get On, which aims to have every 11-year-old reading with understanding by 2025.
The national campaign urges parents, carers and grandparents to read for at least ten minutes every day with their children and encourages volunteers to help with reading in primary schools.
“We have some very high profile authors backing the campaign including David Walliams and Michael Morpurgo, and celebrities from the world of football and rugby league,” said Mr Jenkins.
“We need to get the message out to children and parents, get schools to back us, and for everyone to see this as a national mission.”
Politics teacher at The King’s Academy Jenni Yuill, who studied with Mr Jenkins at Oxford University, said: “I have been trying to get Gareth to come in and talk to the students for quite a long time.
“It’s great to have someone as important as him, from such a big national charity, come and give our students an overview of the crucially important work they do.
“The students put some really good questions to him, which showed that they had grasped a real understanding of the issues of poverty.”
Student Emily Murphy added: “Mr Jenkins was really interesting and was obviously very passionate about his work and his campaigns.
“I didn’t really know much about the work of Save the Children before but this has really inspired me to want to find out more and to be able to help if I can.”
Mr Jenkins also spoke about his own education, his work in media advertising, heading up a humanitarian operation in Syria and how he became a campaigner for the NSPCC and Save the Children before answering questions from the students.
