Hundreds of crumbling schools to be renovated but critics says it won't make up for 'years of underfunding'

Some 239 schools and sixth form colleges have received funding to replace crumbling facilities, but critics say the cost will be enormous and classrooms are in a bad state due to “years of underfunding”.

The schools and colleges named are in addition to 161 previously given the go-ahead by the Department for Education (DfE).

It means 400 out of a possible 500 projects have now been selected for overhauls, through the department’s school rebuilding programme.

The DfE said last year that the most acute need is in the East and West Midlands, and that an estimated £11.4bn is needed to bring the school buildings up to scratch.

This is a marked jump from the £6.7bn in backlog maintenance for schools estimated by the National Audit Office in 2017. While not directly comparable figures, it is clear the funding gap is growing.

Schools make up more than half of government buildings in terms of area, yet they only receive around 15% of annual running costs.

In fact, of all…