RICH KIDS..POOR QUIDS

SCHOOLS are being given as little as 93p a week per child for basic classroom supplies, with poor areas hardest hit by the funding crisis.

- BY DAN VEVERS

A Sunday Mail investigation has uncovered the pittance head teachers are given to budget for necessities like textbooks, jotters, pencils, IT equipment and art supplies.

And shockingly, we uncovered glaring inequalities across Scotland, with high poverty areas typically having less to spend on kids while in wealthier areas budgets were more than double the national average in some instances.

Union leaders and politicians have branded our findings a national scandal and accused the Scottish Government of short-changing kids through council cuts despite vows to close the attainment gap.

Scottish Labour education spokesman Paul O'Kane said: "No child should have their opportunities limited by their postcode but under the SNP that is too often the case - that is a national disgrace.

"Our education system is under huge pressure after years of SNP neglect and this investigation shows it is the poorest kids who will pay the harshest price." The EIS union told how struggling teachers are often forced to buy basic supplies like textbooks and stationery with their own money, while desperate headteachers frequently appeal to hard-up parents to raise extra funds.

Anne Keenan, assistant general secretary at the teaching union, said: "Increasingly teachers feel that they have no other option but to plug the gaps in school funding by buying essential school supplies and many are even buying food to give to hungry children.