THE number of pupils passing exams at higher and advanced higher in Scotland has dropped significantly, according to a new report released by the Scottish Government.

Ministers were accused of trying to sneak out bad news after they published the 90-page analysis of the 2019 school test results at 8pm last night – too late for most newspapers to carry details.

A total of 1515 fewer pupils passed their Higher English exam – a reduction of 5.5% on the previous year and the lowest number since 2014.

Passes dropped by 8.8% – or 178 students – for those sitting Advanced Higher exams in the subject.

Higher maths saw the pass rate fall by 2.1% – the first decline since 2014 – while Higher history pass rates plunged by 14.6% overall and by 10% in A-C grades.

Advanced Higher maths saw the number of passes increase by 1.6%.

However, sciences saw total passes up 1.6% at a Higher level, with subjects including chemistry, physics, biology and human biology.

But those sitting the subjects at Advanced Higher – not including human biology - saw the number of passes fall by 14.1%, although there was a 13% reduction in those sitting the tests.

READ MORE: Scotland's school system is in a 'strong place' say experts

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, the Education Secretary defended the late-night release of the figures.

“We had a Freedom of Information request that had to be responded to. So we felt it appropriate, because so much of that material was included in the report that I promised I would publish, that we just published all of it at the same time,” he said.

"We did that in order to make sure we fulfilled the commitments we made to Parliament that this information would be published."

The Freedom of Information request was made by a lecturer and former school teacher James McEnany. He said the publication was hard to interpret “as anything but a cynical attempt to manipulate journalists and dodge scrutiny, made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was never, ever going to work”.

In a statement released alongside the publication of the report, Swinney said the Scottish Government regularly monitored and analysed performance to inform decision-making.

"Taken together, this analysis demonstrates good progress in a number of areas and that it is challenging to identify significant drivers of change or to draw firm conclusions about some subjects due to small numbers of entries," he said.

"The analysis has, however, identified areas that justify further exploration and highlight actions that have been agreed.

"My key areas of focus are to ensure that curriculum and assessment are aligned, how to better support professional learning and development, and maintaining a clear focus on enhancing learning and teaching."

Scottish Tory education spokesman Jamie Greene said: "This is a snide and cynical move by an SNP Government which is increasingly in crisis across all of Scotland's public services.

"There are clearly major and systematic problems within our education system that the SNP simply refuses to acknowledge or take action on.

"John Swinney insisted there were no issues concerning the drop in pass rates, but this snuck-out report proves him wrong.

"His continuous 'nothing to see here approach' is simply untenable.

"The SNP is failing an entire generation of our children and our once world-leading education system is increasingly losing the faith of parents, pupils and teachers."