RENFREWSHIRE SNP ABANDON THE EDUCATIONAL HAVE NOTS.

The SNP have been in charge of Renfrewshire Council for almost 3 years and their 3 Rd. budget was put forward on Mon. Jan. 18 Th. 10. Those who thought with good reason that Education would be free from from further cuts bearing in mind the carnage that the SNP have caused in education with their previous 2 budgets were astonished to find that they were wrong. The damage being done to educational services under the SNP/Lib. Dem. administration continues as the savage assault on learning goes on unabated; hundreds more teaching jobs are to be lost; thus consolidating Renfrewshire Council’s shocking position as having the worst pupil teacher ratios in Scotland. School closures; the loss of teaching jobs; the closure of teaching projects which were designed to help the worse off; the cuts in music provision; the chronic shortages of equipment and more have contributed and continue to contribute to the destruction of morale among staff; the increase in pressure among worried parents and the stress on pupils; it’s a clear denunciation of the council and the SNP led administration.


The most inadequate education convener in living memory; SNP councillor Cameron continues to wrap herself in the cowardly cloak of good exam results; she reckons she is safe with this but a cursory investigation notwithstanding celebrating pupils achievements begs the question; when millions of pounds are cut and continue to be cut; is it valid to suggest that this means there is de facto damage being done to the service; I believe that’s rational so; where is the damage if pupils are achieving better results ? The answer is that they are not; the truth which Councillor Cameron and the authority choose to ignore is that some pupils are achieving more and a great many more are achieving less.


Some pupils go through the education system and leave with modest or no qualifications yet it can be sincerely said that some of them achieved more than the young person who left with all the A’s; this is because we are not comparing “apples with apples” and this why Renfrewshire Council and Convener Cameron and the SNP ought to be feeling shame; put another way it is perfectly feasible to give the prize for the pupil who achieved the most to a kid with no qualifications than to one who got the qualifications because of the differing circumstances which at times apply.


What is happening to the children who are not sitting these showpiece exams? When millions of pounds are cut while exam results get better who is taking the hit? Those who were never in the running for academic distinction, that’s who. These less well off children and their families have been forsaken by the SNP/Lib. Dem. administration for financial reasons; when the administration states that they have maintained high standards despite huge cuts they are lying; they are dishonest because they are only referring to those pupils who achieve good exam results; the rest are deliberately excluded in the tables and self congratulations; this constitutes a lie of omission. Remember that one of their leading councillors Cllr. McCartin Lib./Dem. stated that they would cut music tuition in half for students and still improve their standards; that is the level of acumen among senior councillors in the SNP Lib. / Dem. administration in Renfrewshire.


These are the same people who awarded senior council officers massive wage increases of approx 17% which saw several officers receiving a rise of £11,000 a year; more than some council employees get for an annual salary; and catch this! One of last Monday’s budget announcements from the SNP was to abolish the annual day trip for old age pensioners You need to be a real “Braveheart” to do that right?


They call themselves Scotland’s Party they really do; honest. They are Scotland and Renfrewshire’s shame.