Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie has unveiled radical plans to lower the school leaving age to 14 – so disillusioned pupils can learn a trade.
She said not all youngsters are suited to further or higher education, and should have the option of taking up an apprenticeship or vocational training if they want to.
Miss Goldie said the policy would ensure pupils would not be “wasting their time” in the classroom until they were old enough to leave at 16, and a new generation of plumbers, welders and joiners would benefit the country as a whole in the long run.
The pledge, which would require a change in the law, is contained in the party’s Holyrood election manifesto, which was launched in Glasgow yesterday.
Miss Goldie said the fully costed “commonsense” spending plans provided practical help for hard-pressed families, communities and businesses.
She said: “If we continue with the current situation where some children are disengaged with school by the age of 14 and stuck there until they turn 16, I think that is wasting their time.
“We are also denying Scotland an opportunity of what these children might be able to offer if they were directed into some more productive form of learning.”
Miss Goldie stressed youngsters would only be allowed to leave school if they had secured a college place or a recognised training post.
The Tory manifesto also contains proposals to charge graduates of four-year degree courses a maximum of £16,000 to ensure universities are properly funded.
The party – the only one not to offer free higher education – said it was committed to building the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), which it described as the second most important transport project after the new Forth Road Bridge.
The spending plans also contain a pledge to end a cheap ferry fare scheme to the Western Isles – the Road Equivalent Tariff – to free up £6.6million.
Grants for Hebrides and Northern Isles ferry services would be reduced to save £21.2million over five years.
The party has promised to review the local government funding formula to ensure Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils receive a fairer settlement. It also outlined plans to freeze council tax for two years after which individual local authorities would be required to hold a referendum if they want to increase it above the rate of inflation.
Prescription charges, scrapped on April 1, would be reintroduced to raise £37million for the NHS, and the free bus pass age threshold would be raised to 65 to save £110million by 2015.
The party has outlined plans to set up a £200million “pothole fund” to give councils additional money for road maintenance.
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