Education battle is not plain sailing but is worth fight

If anyone was wondering what the flagship policy for the SNP Holyrood election campaign would be, they need wonder no more. Nicola Sturgeon set out her stall ahead of the final Programme for Government of this parliament and a theme set to dominate an SNP third term – if re-elected – is education. The First Minister said: “My aim – to put it bluntly – is to close the attainment gap completely. It will not be done overnight – I accept that. But it must be done.

“After all, its existence is more than just an economic and social challenge for us all. It is a moral challenge.”

So there it is. Some say closing the attainment gap is too ambitious as you can never fully address the reality that some children will always have the advantage of a wealthier start, with the added benefits that brings and some children will have a poorer background, with the disadvantages that brings.

However, I applaud her ambition. I would always prefer an ambitious government to an unambitious one. We saw too much of that with the previous Lib-Lab administrations, which were plagued by paralysis.

In a speech in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon announced the extension of the Attainment Fund to help 57 more schools in another 14 local authority areas – taking the number of schools benefiting from the fund to more than 300.

Launched in February, the £100m four-year fund focuses on improving literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing in primary schools, focusing on the local authorities which have the highest concentrations of pupils living in poverty.

While there is no doubt that closing the attainment gap and improving education is the right place for Nicola Sturgeon’s government to focus, with a newlyelected Labour leader already doggedly taking on the SNP on education results – as have the Conservatives – this won’t be plain sailing for the determined First Minister, about to enter an election campaign defending the SNP Government’s record.

I guess in May we will find out who comes top of the class.

I would always prefer an ambitious government

Jennifer Dempsie