Scottish Government School's Failure
Thu 1st Oct 2009
I was in full support of our deputy leader Johann Lamont, today, as I sat in the Chamber at FMQs and listened to her launch an attack on the Scottish Government for its inaction over the school building programme, which the Government has admitted, will provide no new schools before 2013.
Johann Lamont rightly challenged Nicola Sturgeon who once said her government ‘would expect to be judged by actions, not sound bites'.
Ms Lamont said:
"By that measure, how many marks out of ten would she give Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop?
"It has taken two years for the the Scottish Governmnet to produce their school building programme. Some pupils, parents and teachers have at last been told they will get the facilities they need and deserve.
"The Deputy First Minister should tell us when exactly the first of these schools will open. She should say how many children will move in to new classrooms in these schools before the next election.
"The Government has admitted this week these schools will not be built before 2013."
"And there are only 14 schools on the Scottish Governmetns list anyway. In fact, they ‘boast' they will build just 55 schools by 2018.
And she went on to say:
"And the schools they are starting with aren't the worst. There are still 150,000 pupils sitting in schools the government itself categorises as falling apart. When they will get round to re-building those schools?
"In the real world, where my own children go to school, real children are being harmed by the Scottish Governments inaction.
"The delay is because the Scottish Government promised to ditch PPP and build schools with their Scottish Futures Trust.
"The Scottish Futures Trust is a quango costing a staggering £23m that has generated not one, single pound for Scotland's schools.
"What a triumph!
"It takes a special kind of genius to come up with an education policy that
- will have built no schools by the time of the next election,
- leaves 150,000 children in dilapidated classrooms;
- costs at least eight and a half thousand construction worker jobs;
- sees 1,000 fewer teachers
"It takes a special kind of genius to claim that as a rip-roaring success."
I couldn't have put it better myself! I will continue to fight against this programme of underinvestment and de-railing of a successful schools strategy introduced by my previous Government and get education back on the agenda.
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