FREE TUITION PLEDGE FOR ALL PUPILS

Education Secretary vows he will provide one-to-one help for everyone in need

- Jonathan Walker, David Williamson and Lucy Johnston

Secretary left, EVERY pupil in England will be eligible for free personal tuition under new plans to ensure that no child is left behind.

Education Nadhim Zahawi, said: "Tutoring has been a luxury for more fortunate families. The Prime Minister and I are absolutely determined it is available to everyone." Speaking to the Sunday Express, Mr Zahawi said a tutoring programme introduced to help children catch up following Covid lockdowns would now become a permanent feature of the schools system, with help offered to those in danger of falling behind.

He also spoke about the devastating impact school closures had on his own daughter, pledging: “I will do everything in my power to never, ever close schools again." And the Education Secretary said his department is looking at ways to provide more counselling and support to "generation lockdown" children whose mental health suffered during the crisis.

The existing national tutoring programme, now in its second year, provides personalised support for pupils whose education was disrupted by Covid. Schools can recruit outside staff or use their own teachers, and children are usually taught in groups of no more than three, sometimes receiving one-to-one support.

Mr Zahawi said: "My target, and my instruction from my boss the Prime Minister, is to make it permanent. That means schools will have the ability to use tutoring for pupils when they need it.

"A teacher will identify where the gaps are in a child's learning in maths and English, and communicate with parents how they are going to deal with that gap."