ore than 100 schools, nurseries and colleges in England have been told by the Government to close classrooms and other buildings that contain an aerated concrete that is prone to collapse.
A “minority” of the state facilities will need to “either fully or partially relocate” to alternative accommodation while safety measures are installed, the Department for Education (DfE) said.
The department has contacted 104 settings which do not currently have mitigations in place to vacate spaces containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Unions and opposition parties criticised the Government for failing to take action sooner, as schools were being shuttered ahead of the return from the summer break.
Some 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete have taken protective steps already this year.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “Nothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term.
“We must take a cautious approach because that is the right thing to do for both pupils and staff.
“The plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC.”
Funding will be provided for essential immediate works and to support the provision of temporary buildings for affected schools and colleges, the DfE said.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said the “news is shocking, sadly it is not hugely surprising”.
“What we are seeing here are the very real consequences of a decade of swingeing cuts to spending on school buildings,” he said.
“The Government is right to put the safety of pupils and staff first – if the safety of buildings cannot be guaranteed, there is no choice but to close them so urgent building work can take place.
“But there is no escaping the fact that the timing of this couldn’t be worse, with children due to return from the summer holidays next week.”
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson hit out at an “absolutely staggering display of Tory incompetence”.
“Dozens of England’s schools are at risk of collapse with just days before children crowd their corridors. Ministers have been content to let this chaos continue for far too long,” she said.
“It’s long past time the Secretary of State got a grip on her department. Labour knows that children can’t get a first-class education in a second-class school, it’s incredible that the Tories don’t.”