Rishi Sunak’s government faces a fresh headaches over school buildings at risk of collapse, after another 40 institutions were found to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).
Education unions criticised the Department for Education (DfE) for the delay in publishing the latest figures, and expressed concerns about the lack of a clear timeline for when work will be completed.
The DfE revealed on Thursday that 214 schools and colleges have now been confirmed with Raac – up from 174 in the previous list updated a month ago.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan said 202 of the affected schools and colleges – 94 per cent – were providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. She said there were no education settings with confirmed Raac where all pupils ahave to work at home.
But the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said many schools are “still waiting” for temporary classrooms and buildings to be put in place and that plans for rebuilding are “even more nebulous”.
And the National Education Union (NE) accused the government of “sneaking out” the latest figure – claiming schools were “nowhere near the conclusion of this saga”.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the “drip drip” of schools on the Raac list was “yet more evidence of chaos from a Tory government that has no grip on the extent of crumbling school buildings”.
Daniel Kebede, NEU general secretary, accused the government of failing to take the crisis seriously. He added: “It should not have to fall to the NEU to chase the DfE for information they pledged to regularly provide.”
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said the rise in the number of schools “comes as no surprise” and called on the government to set out when it will “provide the longer-term funding our school buildings desperately needed”.
Park View School in London, which has been affected with Raac
“While ministers have made promises over funding and support for schools, there is no clear timeline for when will work will be completed and there appears to be no end in sight to this crisis,” the union leader said.
Mr Whiteman added: “Schools are having to repurpose specialist facilities, dining halls, PE rooms, and spaces for after-school provision and wraparound care –which is having a huge impact on communities, provision and on schools’ income.”
Ms Keegan said 12 schools and colleges still have hybrid arrangements in place. “This may involve some remote learning on some days as not all pupils can currently receive full-time face-to-face education.
“I want to reassure pupils, parents and staff that this Government is doing whatever it takes to support our schools and colleges in responding to Raac and minimise disruption to education,” Ms Keegan added.
Essex is the worst hit local authority with 63 schools confirmed with Raac, according to the National Education Union (NEU).
Last year issued a questionnaire to responsible bodies for all schools in England to ask them to identify whether they suspected they had Raac.
Responsible bodies have submitted responses to the questionnaire for 99.9 per cent of schools and colleges with blocks built in the target era, Ms Keegan said.
She added that the DfE is in contact with those responsible bodies and education settings to resolve 17 remaining responses to the questionnaire.
The Liberal Democrats education spokesperson Munira Wilson said parent of the affected schools “will rightfully be furious to discover their children are being taught in unsafe buildings, some of which may be liable to collapse”.
