Frantic teachers begging parents to help them find PORTALOOS so they can fully open schools in concrete crisis

FRANTIC teachers are begging parents to help them find portaloos so they can fully open schools during the concrete crisis.

Emergency measures in England are currently underway as millions head back to the classroom this week.

Plans are being drawn up to secure public sector buildings over fears they could be structurally unsound due to deteriorating reinforce autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

With thousands of pupils not being able to return for the new school year, contingency measures could see youngsters sat in marquees in the playground for the time being.

And now The Sun have revealed panicked and stressed teachers at blighted schools are begging parents to help amid the crisis.

They have pleaded for anyone who might have contacts in any portable toilet or temporary classroom firms to get in touch so kids can attend lessons.

It comes after more pupils face having to stay at home with many schools not yet letting authorities know they have RAAC, or not.

One in 20 school bodies, such as councils and trusts, have failed to tell ministers and have been given until Friday to return surveys to the Department for Education — 18 months after they received them.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan last night told those yet to complete reports to “get off your backsides” and do it.

Ms Keegan, who earlier this week let rip at those who have “sat on their arse and done nothing”, yesterday doubled down with a stern wake-up call for sluggish schools.

She told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2: “The annoying bit, and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s five per cent of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey.

“Now, hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides. But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the Secretary of State that knows exactly in every school where there is Raac and takes action.”

Ms Keegan said she has written to the unresponsive bodies “quite a few times” but has heard nothing back.

PM Rishi Sunak got behind his under-fire Education Secretary’s rallying cry to schools as his spokesman insisted “parents want reassurance on this”.

RAAC was used in the construction of many public buildings between the 1950s and 1990s, but only has a typical lifespan of around 30 years — after which it can deteriorate and requires monitoring by engineers.

In March last year, ministers asked all responsible bodies to complete a questionnaire on RAAC levels.

Structural surveyors were sent to sites suspected to have the duff concrete, and of these 156 were given orders last week to make alternative arrangements for teaching.

The names of these impacted schools will be published this week, with No 10 suggesting it could grow as more return their surveys.

The five per cent of bodies yet to respond to the survey equates to roughly 1,100 schools.