Thousands of western suburbs students are learning in a growing number of sub-standard portable classrooms, new figures have revealed.
In some schools, more than half the students will study this year in “relocatable buildings”.
An Education Department tender document has outlined that “population growth, high-density suburban development and emerging regional growth corridors and constraints on capital investment” have increased the demand for portables.
Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace blamed a lack of foresight for the unprecedented number of portables popping up at school grounds in the west.
She said there needed to be more investment in, and planning for, the state’s growth corridors.
“There’s a desperate need for schools and those schools haven’t been built quickly enough.
“I think we’re seeing a greater pressure on relocatables because the previous government didn’t act fast enough to ensure we had new schools.”
A spokesman for the department said “relocatables” offered a flexible and efficient solution to address various issues.
“The relocatables provide state-of-the-art learning environments comparable to a school’s permanent classrooms,” the spokesman said.
“Melbourne’s outer western suburbs are the fastest-growing area of Victoria. So schools in the area typically receive more of the relocatables.”
The number of portable classroom “transfers” across the state is expected to rise from about 160 in 2012-13 to 260 this financial year.
Meanwhile, 61 portable classrooms were “transferred” to schools in the western suburbs last financial year, followed by 58 in the south, 53 in the north and 24 in the east.
The department is now seeking expressions of interest to transfer the buildings in a bid to cut the program’s annual cost of $30-$40 million.
The Andrews government made an election pledge of $50 million to replace 250 portable classrooms and $510 million to rebuild schools across the state.
