PUPILS in Scotland's most deprived communities will benefit from £50 million in funding to help close the poverty-related attainment gap and mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of nine councils with the highest concentrations of deprivation in Scotland, known as Challenge Authorities, will share in £43m of investment from the Attainment Scotland Fund, the Scottish Government has announced.
A further £7m will be shared from the Schools' Programme between 73 additional schools with the highest concentration of pupils from deprived areas.
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To help mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools and local authorities will be given the flexibility to redirect some of this funding from existing plans to best support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged families.
The £50m is in addition to the £250m Pupil Equity Funding package announced in May for the next two years and a £9m investment to provide 25,000 laptops to help pupils learning at home.
Education Secretary John Swinney said: "Closing the poverty-related attainment gap remains the defining mission of this Government and the challenges presented by the current pandemic mean that efforts to deliver equity in education are more important than ever.
"This funding will allow local authorities and schools to provide targeted help for some of our most disadvantaged pupils."
He added: "I have given local authorities additional flexibility in how this funding is deployed in light of the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in.
"This will allow schools and councils to swiftly adjust plans and to work together to identify opportunities to undertake collaborative approaches in response to the current crisis.
"It is important that head teachers continue to be directly involved in any decision made about the deployment of Schools' Programme funding and Pupil Equity Funding."
The nine Challenge Authorities are Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, North Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.
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