One in eight schools in Tayside and Fife do not have enough teaching staff as children return to school, new figures show.
Across Scotland, 231 schools are advertising at least one vacancy for posts ranging from principals to classroom assistants, according to analysis from the Scottish Conservatives.
There are 42 schools in Tayside and Fife starting the new academic year short of a full teaching workforce, including 22 in Fife and 15 in Perth and Kinross, the research reveals.
Three schools in Dundee were short-staffed and two in Angus.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives branded the situation “unacceptable”.
“For some schools it may only be one or two people, but for others it will be significantly more,” the spokesman said.
“This is hardly going to reverse the fortunes of Scotland’s schools as they slip down global league tables.
“The SNP is in sole charge of education, has been for more than a decade, and has to explain why it has allowed this chaotic situation to emerge.”
Earlier this month it was revealed nearly 700 teacher posts across Scotland were unfilled.
The Scottish Government say it is facing up to the recruitment challenges, investing £88 million in 2017 that resulted in 543 extra teachers in the country.
It has also offered new routes into teaching and made the profession more attractive, ministers say.
Meanwhile, the SNP said it has completed more than 750 school rebuilds or refurbishments since they came to power in 2007.
The party claims that is “well over double” the work undertaken by the Labour and Lib Dem administrations between 1999 and 2007.
Jenny Gilruth, an SNP MSP and a former Fife teacher, said: “We’re not stopping at 750, with the £1.8 billion schools for the future programme set to deliver even more new and refurbished buildings by 2020, in every local authority in the country.”
