CASH incentives of £20,000 have been unveiled to kickstart a classroom drive to help solve Scotland's obesity crisis.

Previously the bursaries were only available for those wanting to retrain as teachers in key science, computing and maths subjects.

However, the Scottish Government has announced career changers can now apply for a £20,000 bursary to become a home economics teacher as well as physics, chemistry, maths, technical education and computing science.

John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said he hoped the bursaries would entice more people into the classroom at a time of shortages across the country.

He said: "These bursaries will continue to provide financial help, making it easier for enthusiastic career changers to pursue a career in teaching and share their passion and expertise with pupils.

"The inclusion of home economics in the bursary scheme means it will carry on encouraging new teachers in some of the highest demand teaching posts in schools across the country.

“Tackling childhood obesity is a priority for this government. Supporting children and young people to have the skills they need to make healthy choices is a key part of this."

The Scottish Government said the inclusion of home economics in the bursary scheme came after a review of course content for exams which concluded that half the curriculum was related to science and technology.

Once seen as a subject to teach girls essential domestic skills such as baking and sewing, home economics has undergone a transformation in recent years.

Now called health and food technology, a range of new topics have been added such as diet, food packaging and labelling and safety and hygiene.

But despite this revolution, many schools are still struggling to deliver courses in home economics because of a drastic shortage of teachers.

Official figures show there were only 786 home economics teachers working in secondary in schools in 2017 compared with 990 in 2007.

The decline has sparked new fears about a generation of Scottish children not being taught to cook at school and the resulting impact on their health.

Figures published in December showed almost a quarter of children in Scotland are starting school at risk of being overweight or obese.

The new bursaries were backed by health experts increasingly alarmed at obesity levels in Scotland.

Tam Fry, a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said ignorance about food was “quite stupefying”.

He said: “The obesity problem we now have is down to the fact there are millions of families who have no idea about cooking because domestic science and home economics are disappearing from the school curriculum.

“Many families are now totally reliant on convenience food ,which are usually those high in fat, salt and sugar which triggers obesity.

“Until we get a grip and put cooking firmly back in the school curriculum we will have future generations equally dependent upon pre-prepared food.”

The move was also supported by teaching unions who said the decline in teachers had led to home economic departments being closed across the country.

Susan Quinn, education convener of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: “Home economics has been under attack for a number of years with pupils being expected to pay for taking this subject in some parts of the country.

"The fact there are fewer teachers in the system has in turn seen schools making decisions around closing departments or only covering certain aspects of this subject and the use of bursaries will go some way to encouraging more teachers into the profession.”

The new drive is to be backed by a transformation in teacher-training with a number of universities now providing postgraduate courses in home economics including Aberdeen, Dundee, Strathclyde and the University of the Highlands and Islands. Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh is running a new postgraduate course in home economics from August 2019.

Dr Olivia Sagan, head of the division of psychology, sociology and education at Queen Margaret University, welcomed the move.

She said: "The detrimental impact of poor nutrition on health outcomes, our mental health and our ability to thrive underlines the importance of a well-balanced and healthy diet.

"Large numbers of our children are brought up on ready meals and snacks of low nutritional value by parents and carers who, for many reasons, still lack basic cooking skills and nutritional knowledge.

"One area where we can really make a direct impact is through ensuring high quality teaching of home of economics in schools. Modern-day home economics has a crucial role to play in improving young people’s awareness of the risks posed by obesity, eating disorders, low self-esteem and the impact of poor diet on their health and wellbeing.

"It can also help nurture the critical minds needed to resist the onslaught of consumerist messages and social media presentations of the “ideal body”. On a wider scale, home economics teaching can, in addition, help create more equality of opportunity for young people when food, diet and our relationship with eating are still inextricably linked with social class."