Education "top priority" for Moray Council as 2021-2022 budget set
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EDUCATION recovery will be a top priority for Moray Council as Scotland moves out of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.
The council set it's budget for 2021/2022 on Wednesday, with chair of the children and young people's service committee Sonya Warren (Buckie, SNP) then emphasising the importance of education.
Tim Eagle, (Buckie, Conservative) added that education is key to his party's beliefs, calling it a "route out of poverty".
Cllr Warren said: “First of all I need to thank the efforts of our staff and learners over the last 12 months.
“This year has seen unprecedented changes to the way education is delivered in Moray and everyone – staff, learners and their families have risen to the challenge.
"Digital learning has been hugely important, and we have seen 2000 devices and 100 wifi connections rolled out to learners already.
"We would hope to continue this going forward and build on the great strides we have made on this.
“Now, though, we are proposing wide-ranging investment into our education budget to support a return to traditional learning and aid teachers and pupils alike.
“There is broad support from across the council for significant investment in education and we have discussed proposals with Independent and Labour councillors who we have worked with in the course of developing this year’s budget.
“We will work hard to increase attainment in literacy and numeracy as well as ensure good health and wellbeing for our learners. We would look to continue this for our more vulnerable children over the summer months and our investment in Active Schools will help this.
“For our pre-school children too, we have seen increased investment in our nursery provision and Moray is well placed to provide the 1140 hours of free childcare in August."
Cllr Tim Eagle added: "Education remains a top priority for the Conservatives and we have worked with officers to develop proposals to support attainment, teaching and curriculum offer which we will soon present to full council.
"Our staff have been exceptional this year as they and pupils throughout Moray have adapted to a whole new way of delivering education. We must be there for them as we recover.
"The Conservative group recognise the importance of education for everyone. Whatever the career destination, education is vital to our young people and our plans will ensure we provide a strong focus on attainment, making sure teaching is of the highest quality and using IT to deliver a wide curriculum offer across Moray.
"Education is a route out of poverty, it creates our doctors, nurses, trades people and managers of the future. It is vital we don't let our young people down."
