EDWARD MOUNTAIN: MSPs ‘not welcome’ to inspect the Highland’s delipidated schools
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Jenny Gilruth, the Education Secretary, informed me recently that she regularly engages with and visits schools in her constituency.
It would appear that in her Fife seat, it is accepted practice for elected representatives to keep tabs on what’s going on in society’s most important buildings.
Unfortunately, things here are altogether different, and MSPs like me and my Highlands and Islands colleagues are not welcome in classrooms, corridors or the many vital shared facilities with the community.
It’s not a party political objection – it seems to be a blanket ban on all colours.
But it means that some of the most vital institutions in our patches are sealed off from scrutiny, and makes it harder for us to raise legitimate concerns of parents regarding both physical structure and the quality of education.
In fact, the last time I was permitted access to a school by Highland Council was in December 2022, when I attended to give out prizes for pupils who won a competition to design my official Christmas card.
In trying to better understand how things were going on the education front, I opened some conversations with senior teaching staff.
They intimated that they had been discouraged from engaging with elected representatives, and since that day my efforts to go in and see local schools, to meet with teachers and to speak to pupils about their learning and experiences, have been rebuffed by the local authority.
Access for MSPs to schools matters, and it’s a source of total bewilderment that the council here have discouraged such engagements.
It also gives teachers and pupils the chance to raise matters directly with politicians, whether they are in government or, like me, on the opposition benches.
The barriers going up in this way prevents both sides from having a fair go at ensuring schools in the Highlands are the best they can possibly be.
For her part, Ms Gilruth told me in parliament a few weeks ago that “as a general point of principle” MSPs should work more closely with schools.
After all, there are rarely any problems in visiting health centres, hospitals, police buildings, council offices or local businesses.
Why would schools have this exclusive ban, especially when there are so many concerns about education standards within Scotland’s schools, and increasing fears of worsening violence towards pupils and teachers?
Not so long ago parents from Charleston Academy urged me to go in and see the condition of the school for myself.
They were worried about the condition of the building, and had received reports from their own children about, among other things, water leaking onto fuse boxes, loose wiring, and wash-hand basins so disgusting they felt their kids’ hands would be dirtier coming out of them than going in.
Following my positive exchange with the Education Secretary and subsequent correspondence from Highland Council, I very much look forward to visiting Charleston Academy later this month to ensure the concerns of parents are thoroughly checked out.
There aren’t many more important facilities in Scotland than our schools.
It is crucial they are not granted an exemption when it comes to political scrutiny.
