THE SNP's education secretary has claimed that Scotland's colleges are "better than ever" in response to an angry lecturer who told her savage cuts had meant even pens and post-it notes are now in short supply.
In a stinging attack, Angela Constance was told that the SNP had offered only "lies and broken promises" over colleges ahead of the 2011 election, and was asked why voters should believe the pledges made by the nationalists in the current Holyrood campaign.
She also came under fire at a hustings event in Edinburgh last night, hosted by teaching union EIS and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, over plans to introduce standardised testing in schools.
Freddie Johnson, who teaches digital media and computing and said he had worked at Edinburgh College for 27 years, said staff were being forced into "appalling scrimping and penny pinching" as a result of Scottish Government policies.
He told Ms Constance: "Things have never been quite as bad. For post-it notes or pens, or anything like that, I get asked 'is it 'business critical?' So things are pretty bad.
"In the last election, the SNP promised to expand further education, and look at what we got. We got a 35 per cent cut, 150,000 fewer students. The SNP is fond of saying oil is our greatest natural resource. Well you're wrong. The greatest natural resource are the young men and women who come through our classrooms every day and your Government has let them down badly.
"You let us down before, lies and broken promises, why the hell should we believe you this time?"
It recently emerged that Edinburgh College, which was formed in 2012 following a merger of three institutions as a cash-saving measure, has slipped more than £3 million into the red with Audit Scotland saying it would face "extreme financial difficulties" if it was not given extra financial help.
The SNP's record on further education has repeatedly been criticised by opposition parties, with the nationalists accused of prioritising its free university tuition policy at the expense of colleges.
However, the party has said that a large fall in student numbers since 2008 is due to a deliberate strategy of eliminating low quality and part-time courses. An Audit Scotland report, published last year, found that college staffing numbers had fallen by almost 10 per cent in three years. Scottish Government funding for colleges fell by 12.3 per cent in real terms between 2011/12 and 2013/14.
In response to the criticism Ms Constance, who gave a closing speech that was applauded far less warmly than those given by Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates, insisted Scotland had "colleges to be proud of."
She added: "We know there are particular difficulties in Edinburgh College just now, they're very serious difficulties and I've certainly been asking, or instructing, the funding council to monitor that situation very, very closely. I'm scrutinising the details of the recovery plan.
"But I would like to point out, in terms of our manifesto commitments in 2011, we did make commitments about the reform of the sector and indeed to maintain the full time equivalent of 119,000 student places. That commitment is one that we will continue. Our colleges are achieving more than ever before for our young people and we can see that in terms of outcomes."
Addressing calls to raise income tax to pay for an investment in education, she added: "We've heard a lot, and indeed rightly so, about cuts, and the situation for local government the length and breadth of Scotland is indeed challenging. But you have to remember, the Scottish Government has also been subject to swingeing cuts from Westminster.
"Our powers do indeed remain limited... The tax powers we do have, we will use in a proportionate and responsible way and what we won't do is penalise the poor, penalise those low and middle income earners, to pay twice for Tory austerity."
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