Colleges are often the forgotten sector of Scottish education.
They offer a direct educational route out of poverty for many young and not so young people, giving them skills that provide a leg-up in the jobs market.
As such, they are a vital contributor to the Scottish Government’s aim of having a highly skilled workforce – boosting an economy battered by Covid and lockdown.
While the lockdown had an undoubted economic effect, the profound impact on schooling and the life chances of many pupils is still to be felt.
There has to be a strong college sector to help repair and recover the damage done to many school pupils’ education over the last two years.
Fears have grown that lockdown widened already existing inequalities in Scottish education – which see pupils from the poorest backgrounds less likely to go on to university than those from the most affluent areas.
That is why college funding will be a key issue in the next Scottish Budget, due to be delivered by finance minister Kate Forbes on December 9.
They are in urgent need of support and college bosses have stated their case in a story in the Daily Record today.
Their plea to increase funding should not go unheeded if there is to be a fair recovery from the pandemic.
There has been a lot of hot-air spouted about “building back better” after corona.
That must include a plan to make sure our young people have the skills to go out into the world and make a decent living.
Colleges are the key to that – and that must not be forgotten on Budget day.
Festive fears
Nicola Sturgeon will today outline her plan to make sure we can enjoy a normal Christmas despite Covid.
And the First Minister is likely to tell us the pandemic is far from over.
Politicians and experts fear another winter wave of Covid coming on top of a rise in flu cases which will strain the NHS and, yes, you guessed it, have them contemplating further restrictions.
While the majority of the public are willing to accept lockdowns and vaccine passports for the sake of their own health and that of their loved ones, many firms have warned they will go under if Christmas is hit by severe restrictions.
Hospitality, tourism and entertainment would be particularly badly hit by any moves for a new lockdown – or an expansion of the vaccine passport scheme.
Thankfully, all of us have part of the solution at hand and that is to make sure you get vaccinated, boosted and flu protected.
We all need to get the winter jabs because we all need to look after one another.
And in doing so, we can help those in jobs that require a typical busy – and big-spending – Christmas.
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