The Home Affairs Select Committee said children as young as seven were routinely carrying knives, and that 11 was a "key risk age" as children moved from primary to secondary school.
In a report published today, the committee said all Year 7 pupils should receive an assembly or lesson focusing on knife carrying and the consequences for victims, their families and offenders.
The committee also recommended that police continue to stop and search young people, but warned this should be done in an "appropriate and sensitive manner" since some young people have had negative experiences of the initiative.
The number of knife murders rose by a quarter from 2005/06 to 2006/07 and hit 270 in 2007/08, the highest total since the introduction of the Homicide Index in 1977.
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