‘Truly staggering!’ Almost one in three children in Glasgow do not speak English as their first language

The data also found that the number of pupils speaking English as an additional language has risen sharply, up nearly a third since 2019 when it stood at 22.5 per cent.

In Glasgow, 20,717 of the city’s 71,957 pupils are now classed as EAL students, according to figures collected in September last year.

The EAL category includes pupils who are new to English and still developing their language skills.

Glasgow City Council provides specialist teachers to support some of these students, while others receive help directly from their classroom teachers.

The latest figures add to concerns about the Scottish city’s ability to cope with rising numbers of new arrivals.

Glasgow, now described as Britain’s asylum capital, was housing 3,777 asylum seekers at the end of September - more than any other local authority across the UK.

Glasgow is thought to be an attractive destination for asylum seekers because Scottish law obliges councils to accommodate anyone who is unintentionally homeless, including single men.

Council leaders said that not all pupils learning English were new arrivals and noted that the annual number of overseas enrolments had fallen by more than 1,000 in the current academic year.

The increase in EAL students is also partly attributed to more accurate recording of student numbers.

Despite this, Glasgow still had the highest proportion of EAL pupils in Scotland last year, ahead of Edinburgh (22.1 per cent) and Aberdeen (21.6 per cent).

Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr described the latest EAL pupil figures as “truly staggering".

He said: "This scale of demand has serious consequences for educational standards, for social cohesion and for the long-term health of our society and economy.

“A cohesive society depends on a shared language.

For so many children of immigrants to have a level of English that requires support at school is a failure of government to ensure that immigrant communities are integrating into wider Scottish society.

“The SNP are guilty of avoiding the difficult work of integrating immigrant communities under a misguided politically correct agenda that is now failing these children.

"There needs to be a complete rethink and we must ensure that all the people who live here can play a full role in Scottish society.”

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “Glasgow thrives as a city enriched by many different languages and cultures, and we proudly celebrate this diversity and the positive impact it brings to all our school communities.”

It is estimated that around 6,350 asylum seekers are currently being housed in Scotland.

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter