The number of exclusions in Newham schools has risen sharply in four years, with an increase of 81 percent since 2013. Whilst police chiefs have risen warnings, suggesting that this could be a cause behind the surge in knife crime, Ofsted has discovered otherwise. Could the increase in exclusions really be a reason behind the devastating rise in knife crime?
In England, approximately a quarter of the carriers of knives that are children in the previous year had been expelled or suspended from school. Police commissioners across England and Wales have written to Theresa May to urgently call for help regarding the issue and also warned her of the possibility that the youth excluded from school may be playing a huge role in violent acts involving knives.
The letter contained a message saying, "Exculded children are at a much greater risk of becoming either perpertrators or victims of serious youth voilence."
In the letter, it was also mentioned that pupils of exclusion are being "sucked into criminality". The government concluded that exclusions should be a "last resort".
An Ofsted spokesman, however, said Ofsted had seen no convincing evidence that exclusions, in themselves, had led to knife crime or gang violence.
According to government figures, permanent school exculsions have been rising since 2013, and so has the number of children being arrested for knife offences. A close correlation between the rise in exclusions and the rise in knife crime over the past years has definitely sparked a matter of importance that should be considered by the government and schools whilst rethinking some parts of the school system.
With the high possibility that school exclusions could be involved in the increasing knife crime rates, the government has decided to give every local authority in England more money for every pupil in every school and has also agreed to allow exculded children to still engage in high-quality education.
