- School Closures Due to Hazardous Concrete Risk
- Parent Criticisms and Challenges in Making Childcare Arrangements
- Government Response and Concerns About RAAC in Public Buildings
The news that their children’s schools must close due to the risk of unsafe concrete collapses has shocked parents.
More than 100 schools have been instructed to close areas affected by reinforced autoclaved autogenous concrete (RAAC) in the absence of safety precautions.
It follows the disintegration of a previously thought-to-be-safe beam the previous week.
It is unknown how many institutions have been forced to close, but the number could reach 24.
Some parents criticized the timing of the government’s announcement, stating that the brief notice left them scrambling to make childcare arrangements.
Wendy Kirkwood, upon learning that several corridors, a library, and a sports hall at her son’s school in Workington, Cumbria, were affected, exclaimed, “This is an absolute disgrace.
Next week, Martina Eliasova’s daughter was scheduled to begin second grade at Katherine Primary Academy in Harlow; however, the start of the school year has been postponed until September 11.
“It’ll be difficult because she’s only six,” she explained.
“I have no relations here. I cannot ask my mother to assist my daughter. And I must either take a vacation or bring her home and somehow persevere.”
Parents at 156 schools in England confirmed to have RACC should have been contacted, according to the government. Parents who have not heard anything are unaffected pending additional building inspections.
52 were deemed to pose a critical risk, and precautionary measures have been taken.
Nick Gibb, minister of education, responded, “Yes, and that’s why we took action” when asked whether the 52 schools’ structures “could have collapsed.”
The remainder were deemed “non-critical” and instructed to devise backup plans.
But on Thursday, these institutions were instructed to close buildings and rooms containing RAAC if they lacked safety precautions.
As more surveys are conducted, the number of institutions identified as RAAC could increase.
The government has not indicated when it will publish a list of affected buildings, prompting criticism from the Labour Party.
Mr. Gibb stated that the directives were revised because “a beam that did not indicate that it posed a critical risk and was believed to be safely collapsed.”
Last week, the incident occurred, but it is unclear where.
The DfE has not proposed a replacement schedule for the RAAC, which was widely utilised until the mid-1990s.
In England, there are more than 20,000 institutions.
It was discovered that 35 council-run institutions in Scotland contained the material. All were being evaluated.
The Welsh government stated that it would survey schools and institutions, while the Northern Ireland Department of Education stated that schools were being urgently inspected.
Many children whose classrooms are inoperable will be relocated to temporary alternatives, other schools, or must revert to online instruction.
In the past few years, some students have already missed months of school due to the pandemic and teacher strikes.
Pascal Dowling, whose child’s school in Somerset was affected, demanded that the government “bear responsibility for another catastrophic failure.”
Two years of our children’s education have already been disrupted by Covid countermeasures. And now they must spend the winter trying to catch up in hastily constructed sheds,” she said.
Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, urged ministers to “come clean with parents and outline the full scope of the challenge we face.”
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan stated on Thursday that the scheme would “minimize the impact on student learning and provide schools with the necessary funding and support to implement mitigations to deal with RAAC.”
Teachers’ unions criticized the DfE for making the decision so soon to the start of the school year.
The Department for Education stated that it would pay for remedial works, such as temporary classrooms.
The department’s capital funding process requires schools to bid to permanently replace destroyed classrooms or structures.
In June, the National Audit Office (NAO) stated that the risk of injury or fatality resulting from a school building collapse was “highly probable and critical.”
RAAC is a lightweight “bubbling” form of concrete that was extensively employed between the 1950s and the mid-1990s, typically in the form of panels on flat roofs, but also occasionally in pitched roofs, floors, and walls. It has an approximate 30-year lifespan.
According to Chris Goodier, professor of construction engineering and materials at Loughborough University. It is still manufactured in hundreds of factories around the globe and used as a building material in many nations.
“It appears that the United Kingdom is at the forefront of recognizing this issue,” he said, adding that there was scant global data on its durability.
Since 2018, the Local Government Association has issued warnings about the RAAC threat.
Since 1994, the government has been aware of RAAC in public sector buildings, including schools.
It has urged schools to prepare “adequate contingencies” for evacuation since 2018.
Numerous public buildings, including courts, hospitals, and police stations, have been identified as being at risk due to RAAC.
