Army approach to London schools recruitment queried

Concerns raised about recruitment practices

by Symon Hill 28th January 2010

Fresh concerns have been raised about military recruitment in schools, following evidence that poorer students are most likely to experience visits from the army. The news has fuelled worries about young people joining the armed forces because of limited employment opportunities.  Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that forty per cent of London’s schools received army visits between September 2008 and April 2009. However, fifty-one per cent of schools in the most disadvantaged fifth were visited, compared with only twenty-nine per cent of the middle fifth.