Most children from poor backgrounds leave school without five good GCSEs, including English and maths, official figures demonstrate.

Only a fifth of boys and a quarter of girls receiving free school meals reach the standard deemed necessary to get a good job or to progress in education.

The gap between boys from affluent and poor families has widened, and the picture is even more bleak for those from white working-class homes. Sixteen per cent of white boys receiving free school meals attained the expected standard of five GCSEs at grade A* to C, compared with more than half of Chinese boys from similar backgrounds.

Opposition MPs said this was proof that the Government had failed to tackle the educational disadvantage suffered by those in poverty. Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, said: “It is deeply worrying that the gap between disadvantaged and better-off boys just keeps growing. We need to ensure that schools in the most deprived areas are using the type of high-quality academic teaching which we know can drive up standards, with a focus on setting by ability and a strong behavioural policy.”

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: “Over half of poor Chinese boys achieve the five A* to C standard. Urgent questions must be asked about why white boys from similarly deprived backgrounds fall behind.”

The figures also showed that, among poor families, a quarter of black boys and two fifths of boys of Indian origin attained five good GCSEs.

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