Highland schoolchildren are spending their days in the worst buildings in Scotland, it has emerged.
Kate Forbes MSP has criticised the Highland Council for having “the worst school estate in Scotland” despite figures revealing the local authority has received the second largest sum of funding across Scotland from the Scottish Government.
But council leader Margaret Davidson says they are “spending as much as they can” on schools and asked for more help.
In a letter earlier this year to Ms Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Education John Swinney wrote: “I am extremely disappointed that despite being the second highest beneficiary from the Schools for the Future programme, THC still has the worst condition school estate in Scotland.”
Under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme £63.1 million has been invested in the Highlands, a Scottish Government spokeswoman confirmed. Of the sum £50.6milllion has been spent on new schools, with £12.5million put towards refurbishment of the current education facilities across the region.
Ms Forbes said: “Highland Council has received one of the highest sums of funding for new school building since the SNP came to power in 2007. A number of new schools have been built, which is brilliant for the pupils and communities that benefit.
“But I can think of several schools in my constituency, including Broadford, St Clements and Invergarry who are in dire need of refurbishments and yet have been left until last.”
The Scottish Government uses a four tier ranking system to assess the quality of its school estates. There fall under the categories of: good, satisfactory, poor and bad.
In figures released by the Scottish Government under the school estates report for 2017, the Highland region was found to possess the highest proportion of schools categorised under the poor category for both primary (67) and secondary (12) schools. The region also had the third highest number of satisfactory schools, behind only Aberdeenshire and Fife.
Mrs Davidson said: “This Administration has consciously sought to protect education from budget cuts and we are spending as much as we possibly can on our schools.
“The Scottish Schools for the Future funding while being very welcome for Inverness Royal Academy, Wick High School and Alness Academy, has only been targeted at condition improvement and does not meet anywhere near the full cost of the replacement schools. It has not been available for new school builds required for capacity issues.
“The current level of funding is simply not enough to adequately invest in our schools and therefore we urgently need the Scottish Government to give recognition which is reflected in the allocation of funding, of the unique challenges facing the Highlands, and in particular the very large number of schools, many of which are smaller schools, requiring urgent investment; consideration of capacity pressures, as well as condition issues, in determining priorities from the Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme; and additional capital investment to address the most pressing school investment issues.
“If Kate Forbes wants to help Highland Schools, then she should support our asks from Government.”
The Highland Council currently possess the largest number of schools in Scotland, with 204 in operation across the region. Twelve of the schools included are currently exceeding 100% capacity, with a further 21 expected reach capacity in the next five years.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Through the £1.8 billion Schools for the Future programme, the Scottish Government has awarded Highland Council significant funding of £63.1 million towards the construction or refurbishment of five schools.
