The government has discontinued a program to replace demountable classrooms with permanent buildings.
THE Department of Education cannot guarantee demountable classrooms at three Orange schools will be replaced.
Education Minister Adrian Piccoli on Tuesday confirmed the government would not continue a program to replace demountables introduced by the previous Labor government.
Orange High School, Bletchington Public School and Canobolas Public School have nine demountable classrooms between them.
A department spokesperson said longer-term demountables used as classrooms, libraries and administration buildings were being replaced with permanent buildings through the department’s capital works program.
All demountables in Orange are used for teaching and all have air-conditioning.
“The replacement of these demountables with permanent accommodation will be considered in the context of statewide capital works needs on an annual basis,” the spokesperson said.
However, the spokesperson did no confirm whether the schools qualified for replacement.
There are five demountable classrooms at Anson Street School, of which four will be replaced.
“A program to replace four of the classrooms had recently been announced by the Minister for Education using surplus BER [Building the Education Revolution] funding and is due for completion toward the end of 2013,” the spokesperson said.
nicole.kuter@ruralpress.com