HUNDREDS of thousands of children across England are attending schools that require major repairs following years of government underfunding, a damning new report has warned.

Some 700,000 young people are forced to learn in poor conditions, which directly affects pupil attainment and teacher retention, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

The independent spending watchdog also blasted ministers for not having “sufficient information to manage critical risks to the safety of pupils and staff arising from a deterioration in school buildings.”

NAO head Gareth Davies warned that, despite assessing the possibility of building collapse or failure causing death or injury as “critical and very likely” in 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) has “not been able to reduce this risk.”

Around 24,000 school buildings — 38 per cent of the total — are beyond their estimated design lifespan, the report found.

Teaching unions described the findings as “shocking.”

National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “Capital funding under this government has declined by around 37 per cent in cash terms and 50 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2021-22.

“With the school estate in such a perilous condition, the arguments for categorically and demonstrably reversing this trend remain potent.

“If we are to prevent something catastrophic happening, such as a building collapse, and to finally get to grips with the hidden killer asbestos in our schools, action must be taken and significant funding put in place to address the situation. 

“The era of hoping such problems will go away of their own accord is over.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, insisted that safety should be a “given.”

He added: “These shocking figures lay bare how far short the government is falling in its efforts to ensure school buildings are safe and fit for purpose.”

And Association of School and College Leaders director of policy Julie McCulloch blasted ministers for “making a conscious decision to deprioritise education over the past 14 years.”

A separate NAO report found that the DfE has an “ambitious” strategy for decarbonising older educational sites, which are more likely to be less energy efficient, but no plan for how to achieve this or how much it is likely to cost. 

Mr Davies urged the department to target its resources more effectively.