Education cuts

The news that 4,000 Fife college places are to be cut unfortunately comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with the SNP’s education and training policy.

Year on year for the eight years it has been in power, Nicola Sturgeon’s party has cut education and training budgets relative to the UK.

We know that 140,000 college places across Scotland have already been lost.

It’s generally considered that Nationalist MP, Mhairi Black, the shining light of the SNP’s youth wing, spoke eloquently against UK austerity cuts in her House of Commons maiden speech.

It would have been interesting to learn her views, as a recent graduate, on her party’s education policy – a cost-cutting policy in relation to college places, that disproportionately damages the life chances of women and the less well off in our society.

We can only hope the SNP rethinks its approach to education and training not only for those locked out of learning in colleges in Fife but across Scotland as a whole.

Martin Redfern

Royal Circus

Edinburgh