Children come to school in shoes that don't fit or wearing no underpants, according to a survey of school staff
Four in ten staff at schools and colleges say poverty among their students has got worse since the recession began and some parents can no longer afford to give their children breakfast, according to a survey by a teaching union.
Teachers also report cases of children wearing ill-fitting shoes, coming to school without underpants, and missing classes because they cannot afford bus fares.
Nearly 80% of education staff say they have students at their school or college living in poverty, according to the survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).
A majority of teachers say pupils whose families are affected by poverty are coming to school tired and hungry. Staff say many such children lack a quiet place to study at home, are unable to concentrate and have higher rates of absence.
Craig Macartney, a secondary school teacher from Suffolk, tells the survey: "More children from middle- to lower-income families are not going on school trips and these families find it difficult to meet the basic cost of living.
"A family with two or three teenage children that has one earner who loses hours, or their job, will struggle to reach the minimum income to pay for basics."
A teacher working with sixth-form students in Nottingham says she had a student who "had not eaten for three days as their mother had no money at all until pay day". She is aware of students who "work long hours to pay for their bus passes and food".
Anne Pegum, an FE teacher in Hertfordshire, says some students are missing classes because they cannot afford the bus fare while others are skipping meals.
A teaching assistant in a West Midlands secondary school tells the survey: "Every day I become aware of a child suffering due to poverty. Today I have had to contact parents because a child has infected toes due to feet squashed into shoes way too small."
Over 40% of those who have responded to the survey believe poverty among their pupils has got worse since the recession began three years ago. They chiefly blame job losses and increased food prices.
Just over half say the government should extend eligibility for free school meals, and 47% call for the EMA to be restored.
Last Thursday, the OECD, an influential Paris-based thinktank, called on the government to reinstate the EMA to encourage participation in secondary education.
The OECD said improving young people's educational achievement would promote growth and help cut the deficit.
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL, says: "It is appalling that in 2011 so many children in the UK are severely disadvantaged by their circumstances and fail to achieve their potential.
"What message does this government think it is sending young people when it is cutting funding for SureStart centres, cutting the EMA, raising tuition fees and making it harder for local authorities to provide health and social services?
"The government should forget empty rhetoric about social mobility, and concentrate on tackling the causes of deprivation and barriers to attainment that lock so many young people into a cycle of poverty."
The union surveyed over 600 school and college staff in March.