Research by The Times has revealed that one in seven of Scotland’s 2,490 schools is operating below 50 per cent capacity

Hundreds of Scottish classrooms are lying half-empty in the scramble for places at the best-performing schools.

Research by The Times has revealed that one in seven of Scotland’s 2,490 schools is operating below 50 per cent capacity while others near by are chronically overcrowded. The figures have prompted calls for an increase in the number of mergers.

John Swinney, the education secretary, has faced pressure to heed educational reforms in England in recent weeks after Scotland’s slide in the international rankings in reading, maths and science.

English students excelled in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) test, with much of the credit handed to Michael Gove’s free school reforms. These were said to have raised attainment by liberating some schools from the national