Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Margaret Smith MSP has demanded the Scottish Government end the uncertainty over how it will fund a new generation of schools.

Official figures published today show that almost a third of schoolchildren are being taught in crumbling or rundown schools.

Commenting, Mrs Smith said:

“It is entirely unacceptable for so many Scottish schoolchildren to be taught in crumbling buildings.

“The new schools that have prompted the Education Secretary’s “delight” were commissioned under the previous Executive. This Government’s total inability to explain how it will fund any new schools means that uncertainty now hangs over the future of the school building programme.

“If the SNP is to keep its promise to lift 100,000 pupils out of poor quality classrooms by 2011, nevermind the extra classrooms they would need to make their class sizes policy a reality, then it must come clean about how it intends to pay for new and refurbished schools.“