THE number of school buildings in a “good” or “satisfactory” condition has reached a record high, Scotland’s Education Secretary has said.
However, around one in 10 are still considered to be “poor” or “bad”, the latest statistics show.
Some 90.4% of schools were in a “good” or “satisfactory” condition as of April 2022, according to this year’s School Estates Statistics, released on Tuesday, with 91.7% of students being taught in schools with this ranking.
Statistics showed there were 713 schools inspected that were rated “good” and 1526 rated “satisfactory”, making up 90.4% of institutions in Scotland, compared to 84% in 2016.
Somerville said: “We now have a record number of schools in good or satisfactory condition.
“Our long-term commitment to education, in partnership with local government, is clear through our £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, which will benefit 50,000 learners across Scotland.
“These latest statistics illustrate how our investment is making a real difference to thousands of children and young people, with a record 281,070 children now being educated in good condition schools.”
Inspectors rated 232 buildings as “poor” in 2022, a fall of 241 from last year, while two were rated as “bad”, a rise from just one in the year before.
Around four schools, or 0.4%, were not inspected according to the report.
Figures also showed the number of children receiving free school meals has climbed to 215,053.
Somerville said: “It is also encouraging to see the number of free school meals provided to children up by over 30,000, since we extended universal provision across all of primary one to primary five.”
