ROOT OF THE ISSUE
Lord Sugar blames SCHOOLS for knife crime epidemic after two teens murdered in a week
The tycoon called for a stronger alternative curriculum for students not academically minded
LORD Sugar today blamed schools for the sharp rise in knife crime on British streets - after two teens were stabbed to death in a week.
The tycoon said students who weren't "academically blessed" needed to be given something they were interested in to avoid alienating them and letting them slip into gangs.
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Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, The Apprentice host slammed the bloodshed on the country's streets as "terrible".
He said: "I think what you need is a different type of curriculum that separates people who are not academically blessed, and give them something to do.
"Change the curriculum to give them something they are interested in, something they can get into."
He pointed at the importance of giving kids support in their early years, adding: "It starts at school and it starts at home.
"These people that go around stabbing people - they are lost people."
Lord Sugar, who was born in Hackney, East London, himself left school at 16. Dropping out with just one GCSE, he then set up his own business at 21.
Selling radio aerials for cars, he founded Amstrad - amassing an estimated worth of more than £1bn.
Change the curriculum to give them something they are interested in, something they can get into
Lord Alan Sugar
And the businessman said he had been left devastated after seeing the wave of knife crime in the past week, including the deaths of Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki, both 17, who were killed in recent days.
Lord Sugar added: "We don't know the reasons for it, I think there are no reasons for it.
"They were just stabbed for the sake of it."
It comes after Good Morning Britain weatherman Alex Beresford launched a passionate argument to better support kids at risk of being drawn into gangs.
The presenter revealed he had spoken to former young gang members who had joined gangs at just 11-years-old, and regularly carried knives.
Speaking this morning, Alex, 38, said: "They are enticed into gangs by elders in the community that shower them with the latest gifts that they can't afford to get from their parents.
"Before you know it you feel like you are in debt to the gang leader, set up on a run - you are delivering drugs and they get robbed.
"Then you are automatically in debt with the gang.
"The only way you can pay off that debt is to do more runs.
"By the time you have done all those runs to pay off the debt, you are a fully cooperative member of that gang. You have been groomed.
"Grooming is something we often associate with paedophiles but there are young boys out there that are being groomed into gangs."
RELATED STORIES
It was today revealed that kids are being taught how to stem bleeding at schools in areas hit by the knife crisis.
Role play and props are used to demonstrate the science behind blood loss to children.
The Defence Secretary today announced he was ready to send in the Army to help tackle the spiralling knife crime crisis.
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