As we start another school year, there is a harsh truth that cannot be ignored: our children are being let down at every turn within our education system. While students from across the country were meant to return to the classroom, thousands instead find themselves at home, uncertain about the future and when they return. This dire situation arises from school buildings that have been deemed unsafe due to a lack of oversight and regulation in the use of cost-cutting materials.

Take, for instance, St Bede’s Catholic school and Bede Sixth Form in Peterlee, a school constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). RAAC, regrettably, has a life expectancy of just 30 years, and buildings that have not undergone structural assessments are now at-risk collapse. It is a precarious situation, and we must ask: how did the government allow it to come to this?

Startling revelations from whistle-blowers within the department for education have suggested that Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor, denied vital funding to rebuild schools that were deemed a “critical risk to life.” In contrast, a staggering £32 million was allocated to refurbish the department for education’s own headquarters. This serves as a reminder of how priorities have been skewed away from the safety and educational of our children.

This issue transcends dilapidating infrastructure; it extends to the health and well-being of our students and teachers. RAAC is one of many problems, when you consider that an estimated 90 percent of schools across the UK contain asbestos. Schools and academies, which nurture the future of our society, find themselves in a lamentable state, with many in dire need of urgent repairs or replacement.

Adding to these challenges is the turbulence of two years of intermittent home-schooling during the pandemic. The A-level and GCSE results of this year have highlighted a deeply concerning trend: the gap in academic attainment between students in the North East and their counterparts in the South East continues to widen. Regional disparities persist, with only 17.6 percent of GCSE entrants in the North East attaining a grade 7 or higher, in stark contrast to a staggering 28.4 percent in the heart of London. This gaping divide, which has ballooned to 10.8 percentage points this year, has been relentlessly growing since 2017.

The prospect of further disruptions posed by ongoing school closures will only worsen the situation. Our young people deserve better. They should be able to take pride in their achievements, and accomplishments.

Our children deserve a gold standard education, that allows them to fulfil their promise and potential. Schools across the UK should be cathedrals of education with world-class facilities and teachers held in the highest of esteem, so our children can foster their talents on par with private schools.

Education is never a cost but is an investment in the future success and wealth of our nation. The schools of today will shape the society and economy of tomorrow. Our children deserve better than crumbling concrete and asbestos, they deserve the same quality and facilities available to our leaders that enjoyed the playing fields of Eton, Harrow and Winchester.