Brian Whittle MSP has criticised SNP plans to cut funding given to East Ayrshire Council to close the area’s educational attainment gap.
The South Scotland MSP’s comments came after the SNP set out how much it plans to invest in the Strategic Equity Fund, part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.
As part of the funding package, which covers the next three financial years, the SNP are slashing funding in nine councils, including East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire, by a combined total of almost £19 million.
In East Ayrshire alone, pupils will lose out on over £1.9 million in the coming years.
Scottish Conservative MSP Brian attacked the decision, saying it risked harming the life chances of pupils in some of the area’s most deprived communities. He also criticised Nicola Sturgeon directly, accusing her of hypocrisy after she publicly pledged to make education her top priority.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“The SNP have consistently failed to deliver the progress on education they’ve promised and it’s left pupils in our most deprived areas facing a huge attainment gap when compared to those in affluent areas.
Nicola Sturgeon publicly pledged to make education her top priority, but her government is now taking millions of pounds out of the system that’s supposed to help pupils close that attainment gap.
Parents and pupils have faced a challenging couple of years to try and keep up with learning during the pandemic, especially in deprived communities. This decision by the SNP is sure to make it harder for pupils to make up for that lost learning time.
Nicola Sturgeon asked us to judge her by how her government performed on education. If this decision is evidence of that performance, the judgement of pupils and parents should be damning.”
