Gilruth and Ross clash over minister's missed question time
However, she missed the 25-minute session, with junior minister Graeme Dey stepping in.
That was despite questions on school violence and the stabbing of an Aberdeen schoolgirl the previous day.
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At the time, the Scottish Government said she was absent because of 'diary commitments'.
But on her own social media feeds, Ms Gilruth revealed she had been 'knocking doors' for a local council candidate.
The former teacher, who earns £100,575 as a Cabinet Secretary, faced criticism from opposition MSPs during question time on Thursday.
Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Ross highlighted that the session she missed included questions on physical violence and verbal abuse in schools, vaping among pupils, and teachers stuck on temporary contracts.
He asked what questions she would have answered had she been present.
Mr Ross told the chamber: 'And if this Cabinet Secretary is going to be honest with this chamber, she will say she was on the stump for SNP votes, but she should have been here doing her job.
'So will Jenny Gilruth, not in her usual condescending way, give an apology to this parliament for missing this session, but more importantly, an apology to our pupils, our parents and our teachers for the disrespect she showed?'
The minister pointed to the standing orders of the parliament, which set out the rules for answering questions.
It states that certain questions have to be answered by the First Minister or the Lord Advocate and that 'other oral questions may be answered by any member of the Scottish Government or a junior Scottish Minister.'
She replied: 'Now, Mr Ross had the opportunity today to raise any issue pertinent to the children and young people of Scotland. What a pity, although not surprising, that he chose not to do so.'
Mr Ross, who chairs Holyrood's Education Committee, accused Ms Gilruth of dodging his question, which he said had been specifically about what topics she would have addressed had she been in the chamber last month.
He said: 'Does the Cabinet Secretary either not know which question she would have answered, or is she deliberately misleading Parliament by not telling us?'
Douglas Ross shakes hands with Lionel Messi while officiating Barcelona's game against Olympiacos in 2017Later, SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald asked whether Ms Gilruth believed Mr Ross was guilty of 'hypocrisy', given his own record of missing parliamentary duties to officiate football matches.
He referred to occasions when Mr Ross, a part-time referee, skipped a Justice Committee session to referee a match between Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid, and missed a Universal Credit debate at Westminster to officiate Barcelona v Olympiacos.
His intervention was quickly dismissed by the Deputy Presiding Officer, who said the question had 'absolutely nothing' to do with the Cabinet Secretary's portfolio.
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