ROBERT Burns has been controversially removed as a standalone author for Scottish pupils taking Higher English.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) defended the move – arguing that there is a decreasing interest in the iconic writer of A Red, Red Rose and Auld Lang Syne.
For example, the Scottish exam chiefs noted that out of the 35,000 students who sat Higher English last summer, only 83 chose to answer a question on Burns.
But the move has proven controversial for some, including Professor Gerard Carruthers, the Francis Hutcheson chair of Scottish literature at the University of Glasgow.
"It is vitally important that we provide our young people with endless opportunities to study Burns,” he said.
“He possesses a genius with words that's almost freakish; similar to Shakespeare, Joyce and Blake."
We previously reported on how Nicola Sturgeon’s favourite novel, Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song, has also been removed from the Scottish set text list for Higher English.
Other removed texts include The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil by John McGrath and The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins.
The SQA said its updated list of Scottish set texts was the result of a 2500-response consultation.
"The feedback we received was clear," Robert Quinn, the SQA's head of English, said.
"Teachers and lecturers wanted to retain the most popular texts, but they also wanted a list that is diverse and relevant for learners.
"From learners we heard them say they wanted to see more modern and diverse texts that had challenging themes and strong emotional content."
New entries include Duck Feet by Ely Percy, a coming-of-age novel set in a Renfrewshire school, the Gaelic anti-war play Sequamur and poems by Imtiaz Dharker – who was born in Pakistan but grew up in Glasgow.
