Social workers will be employed in 20 Victorian government schools as part of an early intervention program aimed at reducing the state’s rate of violent youth crime.

The Allan government will announce the $5.6 million program on Wednesday, pledging to have social workers deployed in the 2026 school year, working with students at risk of dropping out of school, an outcome that dramatically increases a young person’s likelihood of turning to violent crime.

The plan, however, has drawn immediate criticism from the main teachers’ union, which dismissed it as mere “lip service” concerning the necessary work for at-risk youth in the state’s schools.

The Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union said it had spent two decades calling for “full-service schools” that support students’ h

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