Paul Beesley, regional director of The Prince's Trust in the West Midlands says the younger generation face a bleak future (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Paul Beesley, regional director of The Prince's Trust in the West Midlands says the younger generation face a bleak future

8:00am Thursday 14th June 2012 in Letters

The recession is damaging the hopes of thousands of young people in Shropshire who are struggling to find a job.

Now young people in schools could be next in line.

Prince’s Trust research shows that seven out of ten secondary school teachers (70 per cent) are “increasingly worried” their pupils will end up on benefits, while one in three (37 per cent) feel their efforts are “in vain”.

Here in Shropshire, an extra concern is that more than 1,800 pupils are regular absentees.

These young people can fall out of the system because they struggle to keep up, feeling they will never achieve anything.

We know that teachers do all they can to help students, but many are telling us they need more support. Here at The Prince’s Trust, we run programmes with teachers to help young people who are struggling, preventing exclusions, improving grades and giving them the skills they need to find a job in the future.

Government, charities and employers must work with schools now to support vulnerable young people. If we don’t, we risk seeing a generation of young adults joining the dole queue.

PAUL BEESLEY, Regional director The Prince’s Trust in the West Midlands