That was the claim made this week by a senior member of Scotland's leading teachers' union the EIS.

Teachers, parents and pupils from East Dunbartonshire joined a march through the streets of Glasgow on Saturday to protest about education cuts.

The march, entitled 'Why Must Our Children Pay?', was organised by the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) and ended in a rally with keynote speakers outside the SECC.

Kenneth Brown, secretary of the East Dunbartonshire branch of the EIS, said he hoped the event would leave the Government in no doubt about the strength of feeling when it came to school cutbacks.

He told the Herald: "Cutting back on education in order to pay for the banking crisis is not the way ahead - it won't work for our economy and it won't work for our children, who represent all of our futures.

"There's already widespread evidence of the scale of budget cuts across Scotland.

"Local primary teachers in East Dunbartonshire have complained about having to make purchases from their own pockets for an increasing number of day-to-day items, including coloured pencils, felt pens, rewards like 'healthy eating' treats and even paper."

The EIS official said there was growing evidence that secondary school teachers were also dipping into their own pockets to buy educational supplies.

He added: "We need to go back to ring-fencing for education funding.

"Previously in East Dunbartonshire money for classrooms has gone into filling up potholes in the roads. I know that roads are important, but there is growing anger that education seems to be missing out."