TIME TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL?

摘要

The shortfall of school places in England, and the thousands of school buildings in stages of disrepair, are twin problems that the country has faced for over a decade. And despite the billions of pounds that have been ploughed into trying to address this crisis, the problem is far from being resolved. When the previous government's £55bn Building Schools for the Future programme was cancelled, back in 2010, two thirds of the UK's secondary schools were without investment - a fact that has led to a deluge of applications for its much smaller-scale replacement, the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP). In addition, population expansion means there is a dire shortage of school places, particularly at primary level. Estimates produced in 2012 indicated that an extra 800,000 primary places would be needed by 2020.