School attendance appears to have dropped in parts of Scotland after threatening emails reached schools on Monday, 19 October. Police Scotland assessed the messages as a hoax.
Almost 200 Glasgow schools and hundreds elsewhere in Scotland were reported to have received emails warning of bombs on their premises. Reports also put the number of affected schools in Northern Ireland at up to 300.
Councils reported higher pupil absence on Tuesday. Glasgow City Council said some schools had half their usual number of pupils. East Ayrshire Council recorded an absence rate triple that seen at the start of the month, while Midlothian reported 21.5% of primary and secondary pupils absent, compared with 6.9% on the equivalent day last year.
Some parents posted online that their children were still anxious about returning to class. Edinburgh education convenor James Dalgleish said the council had worked with police and followed its safety procedures, finding no risk to pupils. Many schools were on their October break when the emails arrived.
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