NICOLA Sturgeon has been told to choose between “separation or education”, after the Scottish Tories published new figures showing a sharp decline in supply teacher numbers.

Ruth Davidson claimed the data exemplified falling standards in schools under the SNP, and blamed the party’s pursuit of independence for distracting it from good governance.

The accusation led to noisy scenes at the last First Minister’s Questions before the Easter recess, with Ms Sturgeon cheered by her MSPs as she read out a mammoth list of her duties.

“I will take no lectures about the day job,” she told the Tory leader. “It’s just a pity that so much of our day job is spent cleaning up the mess that has been made by a Tory Government.”

Teacher numbers have fallen from 55,000 to 51,000 since the SNP took office in 2007.

New figures obtained by the Tories under freedom of information also showed a net fall in supply teachers since 2011, from 6765 to just under 5000 last year.

Although some local authorities had seen an increase, many lost large numbers.

Glasgow’s stock of supply teachers fell by more than 1000 from 2396 to 1391, Edinburgh’s from 305 to 165, East Renfrewshire’s from 401 to 296, Orkney from 192 to 106, Scottish Borders from 346 to 217, and in Argyll & Bute, the number went from 500 to 295.

Asked if Scotland had enough teachers, Ms Sturgeon said she and education secretary John Swinney had been “very open about the recruitment challenges that exist in parts of our education system” and were focused on recruiting talented people into the classroom.

Ms Davidson said: “There are fewer teachers, more vacancies and fewer supply teachers to fill in when needed. How can the First Minister defend that?”

The First Minister said the number of teachers “fluctuates over a period of years in line with fluctuations in the number of pupils in our schools. In recent years—this is a statement of fact—we funded local authorities to maintain teacher numbers as pupil numbers started to rise, so that we could broadly maintain the teacher to pupil ratio, as well.”

Ms Davidson said: "This isn't a fluctuation, we're more than 4,000 teachers down and what we've learned this week is the real cost of teacher shortages."

The Scottish Government had been "asleep at the wheel for the last decade", she said.

Ms Sturgeon said ministers were "taking a range of actions to make sure we have the right number of teachers in our schools teaching our young people."

Further measures education included £120m available directly to headteachers, which could be spent on more staff.

The First Minister continued: "Let me just come back to this point about who is concentrating on these matters and who at every opportunity tries to shoehorn in the reference to the constitution.

“The difference between this Government and the Tories is that they debate and we deliver."

Later, Ms Sturgeon said she was "deeply sorry" for women suffering complications from mesh implants, after Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale demanded a ban on the controversial NHS procedure, which is used to treat conditions such as prolapse and incontinence.

Ms Dugdale called a recent independent review into mesh side-effects, which recommended the surgery should continue with women getting “informed choices”, was a “whitewash”.

She said: "One woman I spoke with can't sit down without being in excruciating pain, others have been paralysed. There has been a cover-up and this is a national scandal.."

The First Minister said: "Of course, I am deeply sorry for the suffering of these women ... who have suffered complications because of treatment with mesh."

Ms Sturgeon said the independent review contained "eight important conclusions that health boards across the country will now be expected to take forward".