Saint Vincent de Paul is warning that children who don't have access to the same resources as others often come to see education in a negative light.
The charity say they have seen a huge increase in calls for help as back to school approaches, with over 300 calls a day from concerned parents last week.
SVP is calling for schools to do all they can to spread costs across the year to ease the burden on some families who find they struggle financially during back to school.
They are also asking schools to ban non-reusable books and to be mindful that uniform breaches may be linked to poverty
Speaking to RedFM News, Marcella Stakem from SVP says the financial burden may be even more acute this year due to Covid:
