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Forgotten Children: Childhood poverty as a gateway to educational exclusion

August 2025

Thousands of children in Belgium grow up in conditions that make access to education more difficult, more unequal, and at times, even humiliating. Behind school walls, childhood poverty remains an invisible yet powerful driver of educational exclusion.

Numbers behind the reality of impacted children

In 2024, 20.2 % of Belgian children under the age of 18 live in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion (Poverty Statistics, 2024). The disparities between regions are stark: 23.4 % in Brussels, 18.5 % in Wallonia, and 9 % in Flanders (BelNews, 2024).

But poverty goes beyond financial hardship. Some 13.7 % of children aged 0 to 15 find themselves in a situation of specific material deprivation: they lack books at home, a quiet space to do their homework, or seasonally appropriate clothing (SILC Survey 2024, Statbel - Belgian Statistical Office). These daily deprivations make academic success significantly harder.

School: A tool for equality… or a mirror of inequality?

School is meant to offer every child an equal chance. Yet in Belgium, it sometimes reinforces inequalities rather than correcting them.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Belgium ranks among the European countries where academic performance is most strongly influenced by the socio-economic background of the pupils (OECD, 2024). This is echoed by the Belgian Observatory of Inequalities, which highlights severe social segregation between schools, driven by parental choice and a lack of diversity in certain institutions (InES Think Tank, 2024).

The consequences are clear: 7 % of young Belgians drop out of school without a higher secondary school leaver’s certificate or ongoing training. In Brussels, that figure rises to 9.8 % (Statbel, 2025).

When inequalities begin in a satchel

In this context, the lack of basic school supplies becomes yet another barrier. A child without a pencil case, notebooks or writing pads may:

  • struggle to follow certain lessons properly,
  • feel different, less entitled,
  • become isolated and eventually disengage.

Even when some schools provide materials, they are often kept in the classroom, leaving children with nothing at home to do their homework. This quiet but ever so real injustice affects those who already have the least.

A school kit : a step towards equality

In the face of these realities, distributing brand-new school kits is far more than a symbolic gesture. It’s an act of solidarity, a tangible way of telling a child:

“You too belong at school. And you start with the same chances as everyone else.”

That’s why the Restos du Cœur of Belgium Federation is mobilising for the 2025 school year with an ambitious goal: to prepare and distribute nearly 4,000 complete school kits to children from underprivileged families supported by the 21 Restos du Cœur.

Let’s together build a truly inclusive school for all

The fight against educational exclusion requires structural policies, but also concrete actions that are within everyone’s reach.

Help us reach our goal.

Making a donation means giving far more than school supplies: it means giving a future.

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