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Many people also wanted to see investment put towards improving older school buildings and attainment.

The attainment gap between Scotland's richest and poorest school pupils increased last year, according to new figures.

"The impact on children's education, their attainment, their wellbeing is enormous," she added.

Howells said £1.5m had been invested in improving university participation, as well as increasing school attendance and attainment to "make sure that that we get those people ready for entrance to university".

The gap in attainment between pupils from more and less affluent backgrounds also remains stubbornly unclosed, almost a decade on from it being made the government's "number one priority".