ALEX Salmond has been accused of "failing Scotland's future" by allowing a steep fall in the number of teachers and college students and a decline in undergraduates from poorer backgrounds.
Labour's stand-in Holyrood leader Jackie Baillie yesterday highlighted figures showing the number of teachers in Scotland's classrooms has dropped by more than 4,000, to just over 51,000, since the SNP came to power in 2007. In the same period the number of college students has fallen by 140,000 to 239,000, while university undergraduates from poorer backgrounds has dropped by over 3,000 to 18,700.
Ms Baillie said: "If I was a teacher, the First Minister's report would read 'lacks attention, could try harder, can't even grasp the basics'."
The attack came as Mr Salmond faced his penultimate First Minister's Questions before stepping down.
Ms Baillie told MSPs: "The truth is there are fewer teachers giving our children the education they need, fewer college places for people trying to get on in life and the poorest people are less likely to go on to university under the SNP."
Mr Salmond said the Scottish Government was "rightfully proud" of its record.
Conservative leader Ruth Davidson also attacked Mr Salmond over his administration's record on education, accusing the First Minister of "sticking rigidly to the one-size-fits-all approach".
She said Scotland had slipped down international league tables and urged him to consider freeing schools from local authority control.
Mr Salmond dismissed the "disastrous, disorganisation of the English education system".
He added: "Scottish education is performing well and as we go forward into the future to enhance and improve that performance, let's do it in terms of the Scottish principles of education and that means that each child should get an equal chance, not have to pay by the cheque book for education and not go down the road of privatisation and disintegration like the Tories south of the Border."
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