MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon Macdonald, has said pupils living in Edinburgh’s most deprived communities will benefit from targeted funding from the Attainment Scotland Fund to help close the poverty-related attainment gap.
City of Edinburgh Council will receive an £845,595 investment from the SNP Scottish Government to support pupils from deprived backgrounds.
To help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, schools and local authorities will have flexibility to redirect some of this funding from existing plans to best support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged families, with a continued focus on equity in education.
The £50 million package is in addition to the £250 million Pupil Equity Funding package announced in May for the next two years and an investment of £9 million to provide 25,000 laptops to assist pupils learning at home.
Commenting, SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald said:
In Government, the SNP has put closing the poverty-related attainment gap front and centre of its plans to improve education.
This latest funding boost for Edinburgh demonstrates this Government’s ambition to transform our schools and ensure that every young person gets the chance to succeed in life, regardless of their background.
The Education Secretary, John Swinney, has also handed councils the flexibility to use this funding to help respond to the coronavirus pandemic so no child gets left behind.
There’s still a lot to do in reducing poverty and inequality in Scotland – but universal benefits like free school meals for our youngest pupils, free prescriptions and free higher education are helping keep more money in the pockets of hard working families here in Edinburgh.
