Thousands of Scots pupils 'face decade in crumbling old schools'

Published on Monday 29 June 2009 22:03

THOUSANDS of pupils across Scotland face a "decade of leaking roofs, crumbling buildings and inadequate facilities", it has been claimed.

Earlier this month, education secretary Fiona Hyslop announced a 1.25 billion school building programme.

However, it will provide for only 55 new schools, while 134 are judged to be in bad condition – class D – and a further 698 are considered poor – class C.

And it has emerged that those in the poorest condition are not guaranteed to be a priority.

A leaked letter from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) warned council leaders other information apart from need would be taken into consideration by ministers before any cash is allocated.

The letter, from Isabel Hutton, Cosla's education spokeswoman, said talks were needed "urgently" with the Scottish Government about which councils would get the money.

She wrote: "We understand the Scottish Government wish to discuss with us an intention to use several years' worth of school core facts data – previously submitted by authorities – to identify the schools in the worst condition.

"In addition, they are considering other intelligence to identify the most unsuitable schools that also need to be replaced."

Rhona Brankin, Labour's education spokeswoman, said: "The parents, pupils and teachers in the category D schools would think they would be first in the queue to get their schools rebuilt.

"The statistics say these 134 schools are in the worst condition and desperately need to be replaced. But the SNP know there are many schools that are categorised as Class C or even Class B, such as Portobello High in Edinburgh, that are in a very poor state of repair.

"One thing is for certain: in September, there will be thousands of parents, pupils and teachers that can look forward to a decade of leaking roofs, crumbling buildings and inadequate facilities. They will also know that the SNP are to blame."

The public services independent watchdog Audit Scotland has warned it will take decades to bring Scotland's crumbling schools up to 21st-century standards.

In 2003, the then Scottish Executive promised all buildings would be out of the "poor" category by 2018. However, Audit Scotland has said this will now take until 2028.

There are about 2,720 council schools in Scotland. Over the past decade, 219 have been rebuilt and many refurbished.

A spokesman for the EIS, Scotland's biggest teaching union, warned the government could be seen to be watering down another vow.

He said: "Given the poor condition of so much of the school estate, the decision to prioritise school reconstruction must always be based on need before any other factors.

"By seeking talks with Cosla to rewrite the ways in which the condition of schools is assessed, the Scottish Government is opening itself to criticism that it is watering down another key promise on education."

A spokesman for Ms Hyslop blamed the previous Labour- Liberal Democrat administration for the poor state of schools and said the Scottish Government would work with Cosla to ensure the best information was used in deciding which councils received money.

He added: "This will involve not only school categorisations, but all relevant information, including information gleaned from discussions with local authorities, visits, exchanges and evidence gathered by the school estate team."