Teenagers have visited Nicola Sturgeon to ask for more investment in youth work to close the gap in educational achievement.
The visit was part of a manifesto launch by Scotland's national youth work agency, Youthlink Scotland.
More than 200 teenagers across Scotland have visited 150 MSPs and MPs to tell their story about how youth work helped turn their lives around.
The First Minister met Suleman Rehman, who is working with a housing association to design a new youth work project for young people in Pollokshields, Glasgow, and Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates Yusuf Desai and Muhammad Mahmood.
The agency's National Call to Action asks politicians to commit to 14 pledges, including creating a three-year capital fund for youth work, a guaranteed work placement for all young people and a review of concessionary travel to target it at young people in greatest need.
To tackle the attainment gap, the agency is calling for a strong youth work focus in every secondary school, ensuring a mix of learning styles and opportunities are available both inside and outside of school.
YouthLink Scotland chief executive Jim Sweeney said: "If we are really going to tackle the educational attainment gap then we need to realise that not all young people respond to school, they need another path, another approach that engages them and keeps them on their learning journey.
"A solid partnership with formal education would ensure that all our young people can learn in a way that inspires them."
Scottish Labour opportunity spokesman Iain Gray said: "The single most important investment we can make in the future of our country is in education, and the biggest priority in education should be closing the gap between the richest and the rest in our classrooms.
"Labour would ask the top 1% earning more than £150,000 a year to pay a 50p top rate of tax so we can invest in our schools. If we want Scotland to have a worlD-class education system then somebody has to pay for it. We can't cut the attainment gap by cutting the budgets for our schools."
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