Angry parents have accused Fife Council of failing children amid SNP claims teachers are to be cut from schools in some of the region’s most deprived areas.
However, education spokesman Bryan Poole accused SNP education spokeswoman Fay Sinclair of “muddying the waters”, saying it was misleading parents to claim budget cuts would result in the loss of teachers.
Mrs Sinclair said as part of the council’s £3 million saving, class sizes would rise from a maximum of 18 to 25 in primary one and 30 in primaries two and three at 33 primary schools, meaning fewer classes and fewer teachers at the schools.
“Labour councillors should hang their heads in shame at the way they are treating these communities,” she said.
“As if closing schools and libraries wasn’t enough, Labour are now cutting teachers from some of the children we should be supporting most.”
It comes two years after parents were given assurances that class sizes would not rise when hundreds of pupils were moved following the controversial closure of Pitcorthie Primary in Dunfermline.
But Mr Poole said Mrs Sinclair knew the saving did not result in the loss of one teacher, but continued to say it does.
He said a chronic teaching crisis in Scotland had resulted in one school where a class had six temporary teachers in a few months.
Just a few weeks ago Fife was running with more than 250 vacancies.
“Parents are rightly worried about that situation,” Mr Poole said.
“So the truth of the matter is that, because of the teacher shortage, we have a choice — we either do nothing and continue to see over 2,000 children go through the next few years of their schooling without a permanent teacher or we increase class sizes in some schools to release teachers to fill posts in schools with specific teacher shortages.
“I don’t believe anyone who is interested in the power of learning would want to see over 2,000 pupils spend the next few years of their schooling with unqualified subject teachers and/or temporary teachers,” he added.