Union: The pandemic has been 'brutal' for children. Government urged to invest to improve safety and reduce poverty gap

The National Education Union says the covid pandemic has been 'brutal' for children. It says children have missed huge swathes of their education and there's been a frightening rise in child poverty.

Speaking as the number of cases in North East schools rises, the Union is calling on the Government to invest in education. It wants to see investment to:

• Improve ventilation in classrooms

• Bring in extra teachers to reduce class sizes

• Ensure every child has access to the internet and a computer

The Union also wants to see the Government act to make school uniforms affordable and extend free school meals to those in receipt of Universal Credit and during school holidays, to reduce child poverty.

The Department for Education says, "As part of our ambitious and long term education and recovery plan, we're investing:

Much of the money will go directly to schools to allow them to identify and use their own tutors and support pupils flexibly, in the way that works best for them."