Scotland has recorded stronger exam results across its principal school qualifications, but a substantial divide remains between pupils from its richest and poorest communities.

Figures released by Qualifications Scotland show that the A–C pass rate increased to 79.2% for National 5 qualifications and 77.6% for Advanced Highers. The Higher pass rate remained unchanged at 76.7%.

Almost 270,000 National 5 passes were awarded—reportedly the highest number on record—as more than 148,000 learners received their results.

However, analysis reported by The Scottish Sun found that the poverty-related attainment gap at Higher level stood at 15.6 percentage points. The newspaper said the divide was now wider than when former first minister Nicola Sturgeon made closing the gap her government’s “defining mission”.

The attainment gap measures the difference in results achieved by learners from Scotland’s most and least deprived areas.

Education Secretary Màiri McAllan welcomed the improvement in overall performance, describing results day as “a proud day for Scotland’s young people and our education system”.

She added: “These are incredibly positive results across the board,” highlighting higher academic pass numbers and a record volume of vocational qualifications.

The figures nevertheless prompted renewed criticism of the Scottish Government’s progress on educational inequality. Opposition politicians argued that improving national pass rates should not obscure the continuing disparity associated with pupils’ economic circumstances.

The Scottish Government has previously said that the effects of the pandemic must be considered when comparing recent qualification results. Its evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund also warns that definitive conclusions should not be based on exam measures alone because they cannot capture every form of learner progress.