Hundreds More UK Schools Could Be Crumbling, Says Minister

Hundreds more school buildings in England might be crumbling and unsafe, Britain’s Education Secretary Gillian Keegan  has said on Monday after Authorities ordered 104 schools to shut buildings with old and weak concrete.

The revelations of crumbling school buildings only days before the start of a new term has sparked anger among parents and teachers.

The issue has added to the impression of decaying public infrastructure in Britain, which has faced months of disruptive strikes by workers including in hospitals and schools.

Keegan said the Government was still awaiting responses from about 1,500 schools in England that were sent surveys to identify those with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a lightweight form of concrete commonly used during the 1960s-80s but now considered weak and unsafe.

Keegan said that schools suspected to have RAAC would be inspected in the next two weeks, adding that “most of them won’t have RAAC”.

When asked if there could be hundreds more schools, she acknowledged that “it could be hundreds”.

Sunak, meanwhile, said that 95% of the roughly 22,000 schools in England would not be affected.

“In many cases, this could be limited to a single classroom, for example, so people should have a sense of the scale,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We were saying there is a critical risk to life if this programme is not funded,” Former Permanent Secretary Jonathan Slater said.

“I was absolutely amazed to see … the decision made.”

Asked if he was to blame, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was “completely and utterly wrong” and that the funding he approved was in line with decisions taken over the previous decade.

REUTERS