More demountables in NSW schools

NSW Education Minister defends spending millions on demountable classrooms, saying 12 major projects would be delivered this year.

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes says some of the new ­demountables would be used to ­replace older stock.

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes has defended spending tens of millions of dollars on demountable classrooms, saying the cost was part of a historic upgrade that represented the “single largest investment into public school infrastructure by any state government”.

“We are delivering more than 170 new and upgraded schools, which will deliver more than 43,500 new student places and 2,000 new permanent classrooms across the state,” Mr Stokes said following revelations in The Australian that the government had spent more than $32 million on demountables since the start of term one.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals are investing more on school infrastructure over the next four years than Labor spent in their last 14 years in government.

“We are on track to deliver 12 major upgrades or new schools projects by the end of 2018.”

NSW Department of Education figures released in response to questions asked during state budget hearings last month show that the Berejiklian Liberal government has placed 248 new demountables on school grounds since the start of the school year at cost of $131,000 for a “standard demountable classroom”.

Although the department declined to reveal how many classrooms would be rolled out by the end of the school year — claiming they were installed on demand, making anticipating numbers difficult — the government’s 2018-19 budget had stated that an additional 520 would be needed. The full tally would take cost of new demountables to almost $70m over the period.

With student numbers projected to swell significantly in coming years, the education department is overseeing a historic $6 billion investment in infrastructure, including building new schools and upgrade existing ones.

“The use of demountables allow the department to be highly responsive to the changing needs of schools across the state and manage periodic fluctuations in school enrolments,” Mr Stokes said.

“Hundreds of demountables are currently being used as pop-up schools while the government delivers major upgrades or new schools for local communities.”

Labor education spokesman Jihad Dib said the number of demountables across the state was fast approaching 5000 and the multimillion-dollar spend this year alone was “alarming”.

Mr Dib said the government had promised to build 15 new schools a year and was “a long way behind” schedule.

“These upgrades are taking an enormous amount of time and the use of demountables is a lazy solution,” he said.

“The number of demountables under this government has increased unbelievably.

“These are supposed to be temporary classrooms but what we’ve found is that large numbers have actually been in place for more than 20 years.”

The prevalence of demountable classrooms have become a big issue in the state in recent times, with documents released under Freedom of Information in May revealing that since 2015 675 demountables have been installed across 2211 schools, taking the total to 4665. Parents typically do not like them as they encroach on playground and recreation space.

NSW is forecast to need 6000 by 2021 to address its booming population and an exodus from the non-government to the government school sector in the decade since the Global Financial Crisis.