Priorities are questionable

Sir, – Yet more reports have appeared about the failure to increase the number of students at Scottish universities from poorer homes.

There is criticism of the use of the postcode as an indicator of a person’s wealth or otherwise for judging whether it really is poorer school pupils who are being targeted.

I should have thought that a better indicator would be which schools send few or no pupils to universities.

SNP minister Shirleyanne Somerville complains that universities are not doing enough to attract poor students. Why is it up to the universities?

They are being used as an alibi for a failing school system which functions reasonably well in more affluent areas but lets down pupils in poorer areas.

One indicator is that the range of subjects at Higher offered in the latter tends to be narrower than that offered in the former.

Further, with perhaps a fifth of pupils from schools in poorer areas functionally illiterate, it is clear that the problem lies with the schools.

If money were poured into schools in poorer areas rather than being given to those in affluent areas through “free” tuition at university there would be more opportunity for those from said poorer areas. Jill Stephenson. Glenlockhart Valley, Edinburgh.