Old and unsuitable schools: one in two has not undergone a structural assessment
Pupils are still sitting their A-levels in old buildings with no air-conditioning. But the problem is more widespread, as the Court of Auditors confirms
Key points
The heatwave that has swept across Europe has brought the state of our schools back to the forefront of the debate: they are old, inadequate and often lack air-conditioning. This has added to the hardship faced by the more than 527,000 students sitting their A-levels.
In reality, the problem with school buildings in our country is a more widespread one, as demonstrated by the Court of Auditors’ latest report on the General State Accounts for 2025. The chapter dedicated to the MIM reveals a series of figures confirming that, despite over 20 years of ordinary and extraordinary plans, European funds, EIB loans, INAIL resources and the NRRP, the overall picture remains bleak. Suffice it to say that one in two schools lacks a structural safety certificate and one in four lacks fire safety certification.
The Registry Office is operating at half capacity
The key issue is a fundamental dichotomy that has never been resolved. Namely, that whilst the property owners are local authorities (municipalities for nursery and primary schools, and provinces and metropolitan cities for secondary schools), the administration (and the bulk of the responsibilities) is entrusted to headteachers. However, there are other factors at play as well.
More than 30 years after its inception, the School Buildings Register is still incomplete. This is borne out by the document drawn up by the Court of Auditors, which emphasises that ‘the Ministry has launched initiatives, requesting the cooperation of the Regions to carry out a census of school buildings and to update the most important information’. For example, by stipulating in ministerial funding notices that the census must be completed as a condition for accessing funds. Or by urging local authorities, via the regions, to update the school building records – specifically the section on the safety conditions of the buildings – with the certificate of occupancy, the certificate of approval for the heating system and the fire prevention certificate. Similarly, school heads have been asked to complete the sections on the Risk Assessment Document and the Evacuation Plan.
However, Mim himself pointed out that the information which the authorities are required to enter and update in their respective regional registers constitutes, ‘for some – in particular the smaller ones lacking adequate technical and administrative expertise – an additional administrative burden, to the extent that it adversely affects the completeness and quality of the data transmitted’.
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