Between 2020 and 2024, over 3300 Edinburgh school students were absent from a majority of their lessons, with the number rising from 300 in 2020, to around 800 in 2023 and 2024.
The data comes after the Scottish Conservatives submitted a Freedom of Information request, with Shadow Education Secretary Miles Briggs claiming: “This is yet another indicator of the SNP’s desperate failure in education.”
However, Education Councillor James Dalgleish has called attendance in Edinburgh “generally good.”
He explained: “We have a dedicated Educational Wellbeing Service that supports schools and families to identify and reduce barriers to attendance.”
In fact, a Scottish Government summary statistics document for 2024 showed that 2.5 per cent of students across the country missed 50 per cent or more lessons.
The overall attendance across Scotland was 90.3 per cent according to the national report, with Edinburgh at 91.6 per cent. However, it has been on decline since 2019, when it was 93.8 per cent.
“Miles Briggs” by The Scottish Parliament is licensed under CC by 3.0.
