They’re aiming higher

School leavers

MSP Linda Fabiani says a rise in the number of ‘positive destinations’ for s c hool l eavers i s g o o d n e ws f o r E a s t Kilbride.

New f i gures show more school leavers in Scotland are going on to employment, training or higher education than ever before.

In South Lanarkshire, there has been an increase in the percentage of school l e ave r s t a k i ng t hese next steps in their careers – from 88.6 per cent in 2012-13 to 92.3 per cent in 2013-14.

Skills Development Scotland’s report also shows a dro p i n t he perc e nt a g e of l eavers reported as unemployed and s eeking employment or t raining – down t o 6.5 per cent f rom nearly 10 per cent.

Ms Fabiani said: “Across South Lanarkshire, we h av e o n e p e r c e n t more l eavers going straight i nto e mpl o y ment a n d a n e a r five per cent increase in the number of people going on to higher education.

“The SNP’s commitment to keeping higher education tuition-fee free ensures that school leavers who want to go to university can do so based on the ability to learn – not the ability to pay. South of the Border these fees have reached £9000 a year.

“With the Scottish G o v e r n me n t c o n t i n u i n g t o beat i t s t arget of 25,000 Modern Apprenti c e s hi ps e ach y e ar, s c hool l e aver s have access t o t he hi ghly r e g a r d e d a p p r e nt i c e s h i p scheme. We are on track to achieve our new t arget of 30,000 apprenticeships by 2020.

“With a three per cent fall in the number of unemployed school leavers in the area, we are clearly moving in the right direction.”