There are only 305 full-time equivalent qualified school nurses inScotland.
Each school nurse covers an average of nine schools and 2,848children.
In research commissioned by the college, nine out of 10 school nursessaid they did not have the time or resources to provide the range ofservices children need.
Ryan Norton, parliament-ary officer for the college, said that althoughthe Scottish Executive had been sympathetic, it was continuing to insistthat NHS boards should decide staffing levels.
However, the Scottish National Party last month pledged to double thenumber of school nurses and introduce annual health checks. This couldmean the number of school nurses becomes an issue in next year'sScottish Parliament elections, said Norton.
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