A GOOD education is the most important gift we can give our young people.

 

When I was growing up, I was lucky to benefit from a first class education.

The teachers who taught me at Dreghorn Primary and Greenwood Academy were fantastic.

And then I got the benefit of studying at Glasgow University, something that wouldn't have been possible if I'd had to pay tuition fees - which is why I am so determined that we always protect free education in Scotland.

In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that the quality of my education is what made it possible for me, a working class girl from Ayrshire, to become First Minister of Scotland.

So now that I am First Minister, it is really important to me to do everything I can to make sure that every young person growing up today gets the same chances in life that I did - regardless of their background - to fulfil their potential.

Our education system is good and getting better.

Exam passes are at a record high and so are the numbers of school leavers who go into employment, training or further education.

So there is a lot to be proud of.

But big challenges still remain and the biggest of those is the gap in attainment between young people in our most affluent communities and those in the most deprived.

The statistics are stark.

In terms of qualifications achieved, school leavers from the most deprived 20% of areas, currently do only half as well as school leavers from the least deprived areas.

In the most deprived 10% of areas of Scotland, fewer than one young person in every three leaves school with at least one higher. In the most affluent areas, it's four out of every five.

That gap in attainment - and the gap in life chances that it can then create - is, quite simply, unacceptable.

That's why I announced yesterday a new initiative to tackle the attainment gap.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge will draw on best practice from across the UK and around the world.

It will be backed by a new Attainment Scotland Fund of £100m over the next four years, targeted at primary schools in the local authorities with the biggest concentrations of households in deprived areas.

The Fund will help secure extra teachers for these schools, as well as extra educational resources and support for out of school activities.

It will concentrate on securing improvements in numeracy, literacy, health and wellbeing.

We will agree with the local authorities and schools involved how to gather the data that will enable us to measure success so that the learning can be extended across Scotland.

The importance of education is ingrained in Scottish history.

In centuries past, we were the country credited with pioneering education for all.

If we are to succeed in the future, we must build on that tradition of educational excellence.

That's why I hope that in the early part of the 21st century, we can make attainment for all our guiding mission.

Our young people deserve nothing less.