According to an analysis from the British Department for Education, at the end of the reception year 70 per cent of girls, but only 54% of boys are able to construct a basic story or a shopping list. Still worse, if three-quarters of girls can read simple stories, only two-thirds of boys can do it.
At the time their first full year of school begins, boys have more difficulties than their female peers to speak, listen and pay attention, and even perform basic tasks like using the toilet by themselves. In short, a majority of boys are not sufficiently prepared for formal schooling.
The gender gap is deep from the start, and the risk that it will handicap the boys during all their scholarship is extremely high.
Image: ALAMY
