AFTER the hard work came the long wait. And yesterday brought the moment of truth for some 137,000 Scots students who received the exam results that for many will determine the future direction of their lives.

On the whole, there was much to celebrate, and we must congratulate all the young people who worked so hard to achieve their grades. We must also take a moment to commiserate with those who didn’t quite get what they hoped for, and offer reassurance that there is always more than one pathway to fulfilling your goals.

Tribute must be paid, too, to the nation’s teachers, who put so much time and effort into steering our young people towards these goals, and the parents waiting at home with love and support.

The fact that overall Higher passes dipped slightly – 77 per cent achieved grades A to C - should not cause concern; it points to a stable system that is working well. The results for those sitting National 4 and 5 qualifications, which replaced the old standard grades, were also more or less in line with last year.

The news that more young people have won a place at university than ever before is to be warmly welcomed, particularly since there was a 13 per cent rise in those coming from the most deprived communities. The numbers in question may still be small, but since narrowing the attainment gap is such a difficult feat to achieve, any such progress is encouraging.

That’s not to say this year’s SQA results contain no areas of concern, however. Of particular worry is the substantial fall in young people taking modern languages. The numbers sitting exams in French and German, traditionally the mainstays, were significantly down at all levels, continuing a long-term decline that shows no signs of abating. German is doing particularly badly, with only 890 of the 195,000 Highers this year taken in the subject, a fall of 13 per cent from 2016. In the last decade, meanwhile, the total number of students sitting exams in German fell by a whopping 76 per cent; at this rate it surely won’t be long until questions are asked about whether the language should be offered at all.

The Confederation of British Industry has long warned of an alarming shortfall in language skills, while The Scottish Association of Language Teachers believes Brexit will only worsen an already bad situation. Only last week we reported how the number of students applying to do European languages at university is down by more than a quarter in the last five years.

If Scotland is to be a competitive global player post-Brexit, we must retain the ability to learn and deal in other languages. That is not only a cultural imperative, but an economic one, now more than ever before, and our curriculum must ensure it reflects the needs of business as well as academia.

In the meantime, we wish all those who received their exam results good luck in whatever they go on to do. Their success, after all, is important to us all.