School leavers stats: SNP’s failure to act is creating a ticking time bomb

The latest school leavers statistics show that fewer youngsters are going into employment and more youngsters are going into further education. Unless the SNP Government comes up with a realistic funding formula for higher and further education, they are creating a ticking time-bomb.

Liz Smith MSP, Scottish Conservative Education Spokesperson, said:

"The stark and worrying trend is clear – more and more of our young people are struggling to find employment because the jobs aren't there.

"There are tough times and challenges ahead, but we can help by growing the private sector. It is the engine of recovery and where the jobs of the future will come from. Making a start down this road would help thousands of school leavers and it is why our fully costed manifesto at the recent election had set aside over £150m for a Business Start Up Fund.

"We can also give our young people a better chance of finding a job by making sure there are adequate vocational options for them to take up when they are still at school, so they leave ready for work. It is essential that we declutter the school examination system, making it more relevant to the needs of different pupils and ensuring that it is more rigorous in the testing of basic skills, especially the 3Rs.

"With more school leavers going into higher education, there are significant financial implications for how this is funded. Yet the SNP Government persists in its view that the problem will be solved by making the state responsible for all the expenditure required for post-16 education, when in fact we need a graduate contribution – repayable at an affordable rate when the graduate starts earning a certain salary – to make ends meet. By refusing to act, the SNP Government is creating a ticking time-bomb.

"The SNP Government is presiding over a generation of school leavers who feel as if they don't have the right options available to them and this is something we must change."

Please click on the link below for more information

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/06/24142721/3

Back to all posts