Inverness pupils could be bussed to schools outwith the city if nothing is done about overcrowding, a city councillor has warned.
Liberal Democrat Carolyn Caddick urged the authority to go cap in hand to the Scottish Government as a matter of urgency to tackle the growing problem of capping on school rolls.
The government responded saying it would listen to such a plea but had ploughed millions of pounds into a raft of new schools in the north in recent years.
Addressing education committee colleagues in Inverness, councillor Caddick said: “We don’t have enough schools in the Inverness area and most are capped.
“In my (Inverness South) ward, in order to relieve the pressure, we’re going to need at least £54million to give us an extra secondary and three extra primaries.
“If we don’t do something urgently and request extra money from the Scottish Government for what are exceptional circumstances I’m afraid we’re going to be in a position where we’ll be bussing children out of the area which will have an ongoing cost.
“The alternative is pupils spending the whole of the school career in cabins – which, in Culloden, has already happened for more than a generation.”
She said Highland was “exceptional” and had heeded Scottish Government pressure to build homes but had not had the necessary suppport to build a sufficient quota of schools.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We’ve received no formal request for support from Highland Council. Were we to receive one, it would receive our full consideration.
“Our £1.8billion ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future’ programme will see the construction or refurbishment of 112 schools and will benefit over 60,000 pupils by March 2020. At least one new school project is being delivered in every local authority area in Scotland.
“Through the programme, Highland will receive funding of over £62million towards the construction of four school projects – Wick Campus, Inverness Royal Academy, Alness Academy and a new 3-18 Campus in Tain.”
