AFTER the absence of a parliament in Scotland for nearly 300 years the second coming proved somewhat problematic.

With rows over the spiralling cost of a new building and the untimely death of Catalan architect Enric Miralles it seemed the project was jinxed.

Now the turbulent birth of the Scottish Parliament and the history of the country’s democracy are to be the subjects of a new comic book for school pupils.

Although the project is in an early phase of development the book could be distributed to the country’s 2,500 schools and will also go on sale.

It seeks to cover the country’s political history through to the re-founding of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and its modern day workings as the country gears up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Holyrood.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has now advertised for an outside consultant to take the project on.

In particular, the parliament is seeking to work with an organisation that can deliver workshops within Scottish schools so pupils can help shape the content of the book.

The tender states: “A desired outcome is for the resulting product to be fully accessible and interactive, to encourage a diverse range of users. It is also desirable to have the product translated into Gaelic.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: “The main purpose of this activity is to help produce content for young people, developed by young people through workshop activity that is delivered in line with the curriculum.

“This method is widely recognised as tool that engages young people in the process, providing them with a positive learning experience whilst also producing a learning resource for the parliament. They are also a more effective way of engaging children with additional support needs.

“If this activity goes ahead, it will be used by our education team to help young people better understand democracy and the work of the Parliament.”

Laurence Grove, Professor of Image Studies at Glasgow University, welcomed the project, which he said would help pupils understand the development of democracy in Scotland.

He said: “I think this is every bit as good as Her Majesty coming back to mark the 20th anniversary of the new parliament.

“There is a long history of using comics for educational purposes and recently Asterix comics have been used in Scotland to teach French. Comics are also very useful for teaching pupils who have very specific challenges such as dyslexia.

“In the case of the Scottish Parliament the building is a wonderful visual building and so what better way to promote it than by visual means.”

Mr Grove said comics were still seen as “trendy and hip” which meant putting information in this form could make the “most drudging of subjects” seem appealing.

He added: “But once you get beyond that superficial level you find that what comics can offer is getting people interested in a subject.

“If this is done well you will find that pupils will want to expand their learning and want to find out more about the Scottish Parliament and visit the place for themselves.”

The tender coincides with a year-long programme to mark 20 years of the Scottish Parliament.

Designed to showcase the positive impact the Scottish Parliament has had on the lives of those living in Scotland over the last two decades, the programme will include the launch of a new public exhibition telling the story of the Parliament, a series of family days and a national photography competition to find the best images illustrating Holyrood’s 20-year history.

The highlight of the programme will be an event in the debating chamber marking almost 20 years to the day since the Parliament officially assumed its legal powers.

As well as the chamber event, the parliament will also open its doors to the people of Scotland for an afternoon of celebration and commemoration.

The parliament is also starting a nationwide search for the babies that were born on 1 July 1999 to invite them to take part in the celebration.

Ken Macintosh, the presiding officer, said: “This 20th anniversary year is an ideal opportunity to reflect on how far we have come over the last two decades and to remind everyone of the positive impact the Scottish Parliament has had on peoples’ lives.

“In a time of exasperation with politics and politicians our programme has been designed to reinvigorate interest in Scottish politics and remind people that this is a Parliament for the whole of Scotland based on the values of openness and equality.”

While the new parliament was successfully established in 1999, plans for a new building were three years late and more than ten times over budget when they finally opened in 2004.

Since then there have been further bills for the groundbreaking building including repairs, security works and upgrading lights in the main chamber, which worked out at £357 per bulb.

It was also hit with problems including a 12ft wooden roof beam swinging loose in the debating chamber, and a granite block coming loose on a wall 20ft above the glass roof of the MSPs’ restaurant.

However, John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, poked fun at the idea of a new comic book.

He said: “Perhaps the Scottish Government should look into writing a Horrible Histories of wasting taxpayers money. Hopefully there will be no re-writing of history.”