Nicola Sturgeon could not have been clearer. Speaking in 2015, the then first minister pledged to eliminate the poverty-related attainment gap in schools entirely by 2026. ‌

Simply put, the attainment gap is the difference between what Scotland’s richest and poorest pupils are achieving in education. Sturgeon, speaking in the years before Covid, used to talk about wanting to be judged on her record on education. ‌

The ex-SNP leader will not be relishing the fact her pledge on the attainment gap is now in tatters. Opposition MSPs have warned that, on the current rate of progress, it would take another 133 years to close the gap in achievement for numeracy at primary school. ‌

It would take 57 years to close the gap in performance on literacy in primaries. And closing the gap on lit

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