Labour and the Conservatives have said Scotland's education system must be made "fit for purpose" in order to boost the economy.
Jackie Baillie, Labour's spokeswoman for wealth creation, used a debate at Holyrood to attack the SNP government's record on employment and education.
Highlighting college cuts and the attainment gap between children from rich and poor backgrounds, she said tackling educational inequality should be a political and spending priority.
Ms Baillie said: "Education is the single most important investment we can make in our future.
"It is our young people and the schools, colleges and universities that educate them which will shape the Scottish economy well into the 21st century.
"How well we do on ending the attainment gap today will set the working conditions for working people in the future.
"I hope that's something we can unite on across this chamber, because we have seen huge cuts to colleges, cutting off that chance of learning so many need and depriving our employers of the skilled workers of the future.
"We need to invest in the classroom to support basic literacy and numeracy.
"We should all be ashamed that the attainment gap is 12% in reading, 21% in writing and 24% in maths, and there are still 6,000 kids leaving primary school unable to read properly."
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said the UK Government's economic policies had been successful in increasing the number of Scots in work and urged the Scottish Government to be "more ambitious" to improve employment and economic performance.
He said: "I would also agree with the Labour Party that education is vital if we are going to see a growing economy benefit everyone.
"To have a truly successful economy, we need an education system which is fit for purpose.
"Too many of our children are being failed and the government seems to have no imagination when it comes to addressing this most serious of issues."
He added: "I firmly believe that the Scottish Government must be levelling the playing field not by pulling down those who are doing better, but by giving a leg up to those who are falling behind.
"It is a sad indictment of its record that far from improving under its watch, the situation is actually deteriorating."
Fair Work Secretary Roseanna Cunningham highlighted a new £5.8 million fund to help young people prepare for work and find jobs announced earlier this month.
She said: "This underlines our spending commitment to helping our future workforce.
"We are building on the firm foundations of Curriculum for Excellence and developing the young workforce to raise attainment and develop the skills of our young people.
"This investment will ensure all our young people achieve their potential, benefiting individuals, the Scottish economy and society alike."
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