Damning lesson in education failure

the grandest pledges made in opposition are often the first to be ditched in government.

And so it proved when the sNP came to power in 2007, having promised to scrap student debt. Fiona hyslop, who became education secretary, had railed against the level of debt faced by graduates.

she said: ‘We need to liberate them from this burden. it will help people get on the move economically.’

But it would have carried a heavy price, entailing the writing-off of about £2billion – so the move was quietly shelved.

Now figures reveal total student loan debt has more than doubled in the past decade, and stands at £5.5billion.

it’s an eye-watering bill and shows the bitter financial reality of the sNP’s highflown rhetoric about ‘free’ degrees. We know that scots are being squeezed out of university because student numbers have had to be ‘capped’ to pay for his policy.

But it’s now clear that for growing numbers of those who do secure a place, day-to-day living costs necessitate a loan. this ensures that many years of repayment lie ahead for graduates as soon as they embark on their working lives, and are deemed to be earning enough to begin settling their debt.

For the taxpayer, there are also considerable overheads, with nearly £600million effectively written off in 2018-19, an extraordinary sum that points to yet more avoidable mismanagement.

higher education Minister richard lochhead responded by claiming that in england, ‘students amass two-and-a-half times the debt of the average scottish student’.

the default mode of scottish ministers is to highlight alleged deficiencies south of the Border.

But has Mr lochhead forgotten his boss, Nicola sturgeon, asked voters to judge her on educational reform?

the danger for the sNP is that they are preparing to do just that – by delivering a damning verdict on her lamentable record at the ballot box next year.