Achi news desk-
Despite the promise, made in 2021 when he was Education Secretary, the number of teachers has decreased in recent years.
Meanwhile, cash-strapped Glasgow City Council, led by the SNP, looks set to cut 450 teaching posts over the next three years, with 172 set to disappear this year.
READ MORE: Glasgow parents, teachers and unions protest school cuts
Mr Swinney told ASA that he wanted to ensure Scotland had a “significant and well-supported” number of teachers, adding: “I have to live in the real world of the public funding available to me.”
He added: “I’m going to be straight with the Scottish public, I’m going to tell them like it is.
“I’m going to be clear, we are under enormous financial pressure and my Government is going to have to come to Parliament with information about the challenges we face in the public finances, and we will” n do that in due course.
“I have only been Prime Minister for 48 hours, not even 48 hours.
“But we will come to the Senedd to be straight about the challenges we face.”
The leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, Douglas Ross, said: “We have 250 fewer teachers in Scotland in just the last two years.”
He challenged Mr Swinney four times to say whether he is still committed to the promise to increase teacher numbers by 3,500.
The Tory leader asked him: “Will he, as First Minister, commit to the promise he made to the people of Scotland to increase teacher numbers by 3,500?”
He urged Mr Swinney to be “clear and direct with this Parliament and just answer”.
Mr Swinney said the commitment on teacher numbers was “given in good faith.”
He told MSPs that he wanted to “work with our local authority partners to deliver on those commitments”.
“The method we use is very dependent on the resources we have at our disposal,” he warned.
He said that the public finances had “deteriorated due to the effect of austerity, due to the cuts that have been made in public expenditure” and also due to “very significant” inflation.
Although he said the Scottish Government will “develop its program within the resources available to us”, he added: “I have to make it clear to people, to be straight with the public, as the I will, that public finances are under enormous pressure.”
READ MORE: The reality of teachers interrupting schools in Glasgow
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar also pressed Mr Swinney on teacher numbers.
He asked the new First Minister if he will “step in and save the jobs” of teachers in Glasgow.
Mr Sarwar told MSPs: “John Swinney is responsible for the financial cuts in our councils and the decline of our education system.”
The First Minister emphasized that he will not tell local authorities what to do.
Mr Swinney said he understood the “challenges facing Glasgow City Council” and promised to “engage constructively” with him and local government body Cosla.
