Education Minister Erica Stanford still can’t confirm when the Government will deliver the $2 billion worth school upgrades she cut earlier this year.

“Labour upgraded 98 percent of schools and delivered more than 2200 new classrooms. Cutting these projects makes no sense and will take educational outcomes backwards,” Labour’s education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said.

“Everyone will remember children learning in damp, mouldy classrooms and schools with no space under the last National Government, who were comfortable with kids being taught in gyms and hallways. We don’t want to go back to that.

“Labour was already growing the use off-site manufacturing for classrooms and other government build programmes, driving the uptake of offsite manufacturing by Government agencies by a minimum of 10% year on year.

“We need to keep momentum on school renewals and maintenance. Today’s announcement leaves schools waiting on more than 100 projects with no indication to when or if they will go ahead.

“Just saying “in future budgets” isn’t good enough. Schools deserve certainty and clarity from the Government,” Jan Tinetti said.