The SNP is presiding over an explosion of weapons in the classroom with new figures laying bear the extent of the issue. Schools have recorded a 50% increase in knives and other dangerous items being used since the Covid pandemic as discipline collapses.
The shocking data, revealed nearly 10 years after a 16-year-old was stabbed to death at school, shows there were 1,440 reports to police of weapons in schools between 2017/18 and 2023-24 . On almost 500 occasions, the report was of a pupil actually using "an offensive weapon" or "article with a blade or point".
The figures show that 293 times a weapon was used has been in the three years since the Covid pandemic compared to 194 in the three years before. The number of police-reported cases of pupils possessing a dangerous weapon also rose from 628 to 702 in the same pre- and post-pandemic windows, with a further 110 in the year 2020/21 when pupils were largely confined to their homes.
The figures were obtained by Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs MSP in a response from SNP justice secretary Angela Constance MSP. He called on ministers to "get a grip" on school discipline so that pupils and teachers can feel safe.
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Mr Briggs said: "The huge rise in pupils using dangerous weapons highlights a terrifying collapse of discipline in Scotland’s schools under the SNP. Pupils, parents, councils and teaching unions have been warning for years about the rising tide of classroom violence.
"We’ve had plenty of hand-wringing and warm words from the SNP, but precious little action to tackle this growing problem. Just this week, we learned that teachers at a school in East Dunbartonshire are to take industrial action because they say pupils face no consequences for violent and abusive behaviour.
"Ministers need to get a grip on this crisis now and bring some common sense back to the classroom so that pupils, teachers and support staff can feel safe in schools." The Tories are calling for a "zero-tolerance approach to weapons-carrying" and the introduction of education programmes.
They also want the government to tackle "huge waiting times for child and adolescent mental-health referrals". Mr Briggs referenced the killing of Bailey Gwynne, a 16-year-old stabbed to death in 2016 at Cults Academy in Aberdeen. An independent review by Aberdeen Council into the tragedy made 21 recommendations, including calling on the Scottish Government to "improve the resilience of schools to the threat posed by weapons" and "explore the further legislative controls" in terms of buying weapons online.
Mr Briggs added it was "essential that all possible steps are taken to minimise the chances of such a tragedy ever being repeated". Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, said it "continues to campaign vigorously for additional resources for education to help address the growing levels of violence and aggression in our schools".
In a statement, the body said: "Clearly there is no justification for a pupil ever to bring a weapon into school. School discipline policies are in place, which highlight that bringing any type of weapon to school is completely unacceptable and carries serious consequences, including school exclusion, and police involvement where necessary.
"Many incidents of weapon-carrying are cases of foolish bravado, where pupils are seeking to impress or intimidate others, but they are nonetheless a significant threat to the health and safety of school staff and pupils, as current statistics attest." School discipline has been under the microscope in Scotland since the pandemic with the SNP's record criticised.
Last year, it emerged a teacher was attacked in a Scottish school the equivalent of every four minutes during the academic year 2023/24. And in December, John Swinney faced a barrage at Holyrood from Tory leader Russell Findlay over issues in the classroom as the FM was told that "teachers routinely suffer sexual intimidation and even violence".
Responding to the latest figures, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “Weapons should never be in our schools and that is why we are working hard to clamp down on the carrying of weapons. The number of recorded incidents of handling offensive weapons in schools in 2023-24 is down on the previous year and this is progress we are determined to build on.
"That’s why we’ve invested more than £4 million over the past two years to deliver the actions in the Violence Prevention Framework, including addressing youth violence, the carrying of weapons and violence in and around schools. Violence and abusive behaviour towards pupils or staff is completely unacceptable.
"In August, the Scottish Government published a joint action plan with Cosla, setting out a range of meaningful actions that will be taken at a national and local level over the next three years to respond to concerns parents, pupils and teachers have about misbehaviour in schools, including violence."
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