You can study that subject for Higher… but it’s 87 miles away

SCOTS schoolchildren are having to travel as far as 87 miles to take some of their higher education subjects.

Freedom of information data has revealed that the longest journeys recorded in 2022-23 were being undertaken by pupils studying Advanced Higher English in Argyll & Bute.

In East Lothian, pupils travelled 23.1 miles to study Scientific Technologies, in 2021-22, and two 17-mile trips for Advanced Higher Maths and Advanced Higher Biology were recorded in Moray.

The out-of-school journeys are the result of a lack of normal timetable availability.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesman Willie Rennie has urged the SNP Government to invest in core education provision and address falling teacher numbers. He said: ‘No young person should ever have to trek 87 miles to get to and from their lessons, but the SNP’s neglect of education has made that a depressing reality. Education was once a defining mission for the SNP, but it has fast become their defining failure.’

Figures in December showed that the number of teachers in Scotland had fallen for a second consecutive year, despite the SNP promising to hire 3,500 more. A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘It has always been the responsibility of local councils to recruit and employ teachers, based on local needs and circumstances.

‘Scotland has more teachers per pupil and the highest paid in the UK, as well as investing more per pupil than any other UK nation. This investment has seen significant improvements in attainment in the most recent figures and record levels of positive destinations for leavers.’