Alex Salmond challenged over 'shameful' education record He faced questions over Scotland's schools after an official report published this week found only 3.9 per cent of pupils in the poorest areas get three A grades in their Higher exams compared with 24.2 per cent in the wealthiest communities. Although the report criticised universities for making only very small improvements in recruiting poor students, it admitted their efforts were hampered by "low levels of school attainment." Ms Baillie told MSPs: "The truth is there are fewer teachers giving our children the education they need, there are fewer college places for people trying to get on in life and the poorest people are less likely to go on to university under this SNP Government. He (Salmond) should be ashamed. Isn't it the case that when the First Minister leaves Bute House for the last time he should perhaps consider taking the Education Secretary with him? Ms Baillie, who is standing in at First Minister's Questions while Scottish Labour chooses a new leader, published figures showing there were 55,099 teachers when the SNP took power compared to 51,078 last year. This is a drop of 4,021. Mr Salmond argued that class sizes have remained the same over the period, but this was contradicted by official statistics showing there are 16.5 primary pupils for every teacher compared to 15.8 in 2007. The figures for secondary schools were 12.2 and 11.6 respectively. The number of people attending college has dropped from 379,223 to 238,805 over the same period. Labour said the SNP has cut the further education budget by £67 million to maintain spending on universities. Meanwhile, the number of children from the 40 per cent most deprived communities who attend university has dropped from 21,851 to 18,702 between the 2009/10 and 2012/13 academic years. The Tories this week published a book of articles, mostly by politically impartial authors, calling for urgent reform of the education system. Mr Bloomer, the former director of education at Clackmannshire Council, warned Scotland was slipping down international league tables in maths, reading and science and "there is little sign of recovery." Ms Davidson highlighted his warning that SNP ministers" penchant for "self-congratulation" was harming the prospect of improvement and urged Mr Salmond to end the "one-size-fits-all" system of local authority control. But Mr Salmond said Scotland had closed the gap on New Zealand's performance and would not be adopting the "disastrous disorganisation" of the English education system, where parents, charities and religious groups can run schools. Speaking after their exchanges, Ms Davidson said the First Minister "would rather pat himself on the back and put his ego ahead of giving every child the same chance of a good education."