Scottish schools have reported around 3000 racist incidents in the past five years, figures have shown.

Almost 2000 of the incidents happened at primary schools, according to data obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information requests.

Figures were provided by 26 out of 32 local authorities, although Glasgow City Council and Aberdeen City Council were not included. Some local authorities did not supply data for every year.

The numbers did show that racism had fallen in both primary and secondary schools over the past two years.

Lib Dems education spokesman Tavish Scott urged local authorities and ministers to ensure that all children feel welcome and secure when they return to school in August.

He said: "These figures suggest that since 2011 some progress has been made in challenging racism in our schools.

"But many more incidents will still go unreported and we cannot allow there to be a spike in racist incidents in schools following the result of the EU referendum.

"Reports suggest we have seen a surge in racist incidents around the United Kingdom after the Brexit vote and the last thing we need to see is that replicated in our schools when they return from the holidays.

"To achieve a fairer society, where everyone has the chance to get on in life regardless of their racial or ethnic background, we need to have a fully inclusive education system where children and teachers can feel confident in challenging racism."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Bullying of any form is entirely unacceptable and it is very welcome that in the last two years, the number of recorded incidents of abuse in this form fell by almost half in primary schools, and by a quarter in secondary schools.

"Nevertheless, we still need to be vigilant in challenging any racist, homophobic and abusive behaviour in our schools.

"We will continue to work with local authorities and teachers to support them to deal with these problems as they arrive so that our children grow up with respect for themselves and each other."

Figures published in the wake of the UK Brexit vote in June showed there had been a fivefold spike in racist incidents in England and Wales in the weeks following the poll.

Police Scotland said they had seen no such surge north of the border, although admitted many incidents go unreported.