Moray MP Douglas Ross has strongly condemned an “appalling” number of attacks against school staff in Moray in recent years.
Freedom of Information Requests from the Scottish Conservatives show that since 2017/18, over 73,000 verbal or physical attacks have been carried out against school staff across Scotland.
In Moray, there have been almost 4,500 attacks, with 2021/22 seeing the highest number recorded yet, with 1,235 carried out.
Douglas says there is absolutely no excuse for physically or verbally attacking any member of school staff who shouldn’t have to worry about their working environment being an unsafe environment.
The number of attacks in 2021/22 was 500 higher than the number recorded in 2017/18, leading Douglas to describe the rise as a “worrying trend.”
He says there must be a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of unruly and dangerous behaviour.
Douglas added that the SNP-Green government must ensure that a fair deal is delivered to local authorities, so that schools in Moray have every resource they need to tackle violence in schools.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “These figures are absolutely appalling. No member of staff working in our schools should be physically or verbally attacked by pupils. Teachers and school staff have a challenging job to do, and they deserve to feel safe in their workplace.
“There is a worrying trend of attacks being on the increase in schools in Moray and that simply cannot continue.
“We have to take a zero-tolerance approach towards this unruly behaviour. Not only is it deeply distressing and dangerous for the teachers involved, it is also hugely disruptive to the vast majority of well-behaved pupils in our schools.
“More disruption to their learning is the last thing they need following the upheaval caused by school closures during the pandemic.
“It is time for the SNP-Green government to finally deliver a fair funding deal for Moray Council to ensure our local authority can give our schools every resource they need to tackle violence in our schools, rather than letting these numbers spiral completely out of control.”
