MINISTERS have been warned about the number of Ukrainian children enrolled in Scotland’s schools dropping by 100 in the last few months. 

The Scottish Conservatives said they feared the “extremely worrying” fall in the official figures could be linked to the fact that thousands of those fleeing to Scotland to escape Vladimir Putin’s invasion were still living in temporary accommodation. 

According to Scottish Government statistics published last week, there were 3,103 Ukrainian children enrolled in primary and secondary schools across Scotland on April 28, down from 3,203 at the end of January, and from 3,178 on February 24 and 3,124 on March 31.

However, numbers are still up on last year, when 3,060 Ukrainian children were enrolled in school at the end of November. 

The Scottish Government report stated: “Since first reported in September 2022, the number of Ukrainian children enrolled in schools (both primary and secondary combined) were on an increasing trend until January, followed by a decreasing trend since February. 

“The same trend is seen in the number of Ukrainian children enrolled in secondary schools; whereas, the number of Ukrainian children enrolled in primary schools started to decrease since March.”

The report also revealed that by May 16, Scotland had received 45,575 visa applications through the UK Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, including those sponsored by the Scottish Government and by individual sponsors. 

Of these, 38,496 visas have been issued and a total of 24,532 displaced people from Ukraine have arrived, more per head than in any other UK nation. 

There are 448 displaced people with a sponsor for every 100,000 people in Scotland.

 In Wales the equivalent figure is 217, in England 160 and in Northern Ireland 54.

Tory social justice spokesman Miles Briggs said: “It is extremely worrying that the number of brave Ukrainian children enrolled in Scottish schools – after fleeing their war-torn homeland – is on the slide.

“The onus is on SNP ministers to get a grip on this issue as a matter of urgency.

 “Given that thousands of Ukrainians are still living in temporary accommodation, then it is perhaps not surprising that the numbers in schools have declined. There are stories of families having to uproot and move over two hours away from where they originally settled.

 “SNP ministers’ rhetoric on supporting Ukrainians who came to Scotland has not been backed up by their actions. It is rapidly looking like disrupting children’s education can be added to their list of failures on this front.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This data is of course subject to fluctuations reflecting guests’ ability to move anywhere in UK and of course outside the UK and that is why figures each month can go up or down.

"The change over the last month reflects less than one per cent of all enrolments.”