MSP Alex Rowley has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament highlighting cuts to the Fife Education Budget and is calling for more action to challenge ‘failed Tory austerity’ which he says is limiting the chances of young people achieving their potential.

Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife, said: “These latest cuts to education in Fife are not acceptable at a time when teachers are already over worked and under resourced as well as the fact that children are finding it more difficult to get the person-centred support they need for their learning journey through education.”

The Labour politician draws on the comparison between private schools and state runs schools saying it cannot be right that the gap in resources is growing. He said: “In a private school the average teacher to pupil ratio is one teacher to eight children and yet in our local schools children are being taught in classes of one teacher to thirty children. This pressure on our schools must be addressed.”

Mr Rowley said councillors are being ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’ when it comes to budgets.

The Kelty based MSP said: “A direct result of failed Tory austerity cuts are continuing to be passed down to local councils who have a legal requirement to balance the books.

"I am highlighting these latest cuts to Fife education because I believe we have got to stop the cuts and get more teachers and more teaching assistants in our classrooms if we are to give every child equality in education supporting them to achieve their potential.

“The education of children should be a gift passed from one generation to the next not a commodity to be bought and sold, yet increasingly as the council cuts keep coming, the gap between private and public provision is growing which is doing nothing to address social inequality.

"Tory austerity cannot be allowed to continue to harm the educational chances and therefore life chances of our children”.