Lottery for pupils over teacher absences

I support my colleague Jenny Marra, Scottish Labour's list candidate for North-East Scotland, in her concerns about the proposals from the Dundee City Council Administration to devolve the budgets for long-term absence cover in schools to each school. I am concerned that this will create a lottery where pupils could suffer due to the ill-health or even pregnancy of their teachers. At present the council absorbs the risk across the city's schools these proposals mean that all the risk transfers to the individual school and therefore to the pupils in that particular school. I think that the Administration should reconsider these proposals and change them. The education of the children of Dundee should be a priority for everyone on the council.