The overall policy goal of my Department is to ensure the highest standard of permanent accommodation for all schools. However, in the context of a rapidly increasing school population and competing pressure on the capital budget available to my Department, it is necessary to make use of temporary accommodation in order to meet the accommodation needs of schools. This temporary accommodation is suitable for use as classroom accommodation. It is important, when additional teacher posts are sanctioned by my Department, that schools are facilitated to appoint and accommodate them as soon as possible.
The policy of my Department on utilising temporary or prefabricated structures to accommodate students depends on a number of factors including:
Whether the school has permanent recognition or is provisionally recognised. Many schools, when first established, are given provisional recognition and only obtain permanent recognition when they have proved that they are viable.
If the need is deemed short term, the policy is generally to approve temporary rental of accommodation. For example, a school may require a temporary building while it is awaiting the completion of construction of a permanent building.
Immediacy of requirement. In some cases, a school needs accommodation at very short notice and this can only be provided through temporary or prefabricated accommodation, due to the length of time required to design, obtain statutory approvals and construct a permanent structure.
As the Deputy may be aware, where a need for additional accommodation is likely to exist for three years or more, it is my Department's practice to offer schools grant aid which can be used to construct a permanent structure, rather than using the grant aid to purchase or rent temporary accommodation.