EXAM RESULTS SHOW SNP STILL FAILS POORER PUPILS

NICOLA Sturgeon's promise to eradicate the education attainment gap lies "in tatters" this morning after new exam result figures showed it remains "stubbornly wide".

- David Walker

During her time in office, the former First Minister repeatedly vowed that the issue was one of her main priorities.

Yet, despite all her bluster, very little appears to have changed.

Yesterday, while slight improvements were shown to have been made, overall the picture for children from less well-off families remains bleak. Overall, the exam success rate for pupils has increased narrowly, with The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) revealing pass rates were returning to pre-Covid levels, but were still at an almost record low.

Figures showed that the Higher pass rate is now 75.9%, which is an increase of just one percentage point compared to 2024. However, other than 2019 and 2024, that is still the lowest Higher pass rate since 2009.

Both the National 5 and Advanced Higher pass rates also increased, up 1.2% to 78.4% and up 1.4% to 76.7% respectively.

The attainment gap between Scotland's most and least-affluent learners did go down, but remains higher than in 2023.

At National 5 level, it is 16.6% a reduction from 17.2% last year but still an increase from 15.6% in 2023.

At Higher, it stayed the same at 17.1%, up from 16% in 2023. And at Advanced Higher, the gap dropped significantly from 15.5% to 12.8%, but that is still larger than 2023's figure of 11.5%.

News of the figures and the attainment gap prompted a barrage of criticism from the SNP's political opponents who deemed the situation a "source of shame for the beleaguered nationalist party".

Leading the attacks were the Scottish Conservatives, who said it was clear the SNP did not have a plan to solve the problem any time soon.