STUDENTS at Werribee Secondary College are being taught in “unsafe” buildings dating back to the 1940s and 50s, almost a decade after a complete rebuild of the school was promised.
Stages one and two of the rebuild were completed in the 2010-11 financial year after part of the school was destroyed by fire in 2004.
Prior to the previous state election, Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury called on the then Labor government to provide $6million to finish the project.
The current government has yet to commit to providing the funding.
College council president Pekka Puronpaa said the government needed to fund the final stage of works because it had a duty to provide students with safe learning facilities.
He claimed students were spending 75per cent of their contact hours in unsafe buildings.
“Werribee Secondary College Council believes the current state government [should] focus on students’ well-being with integrity and provide stage three funding in the May budget. We live in hope,” Mr Puronpaa said.
Tarneit MP Tim Pallas and Prime Minister and Lalor MP Julia Gillard have also called on the government to include the project in the budget, which will be handed down on May 1.
Mr Pallas said Mr Elsbury needed to honour his pre-election calls for the funding to be delivered and lobby Education Minister Martin Dixon to include it in this year’s budget.
Mr Pallas and Ms Gillard also urged the state government to fund the reconstruction of Galvin Park Secondary College, which suffered storm damage and mould problems late last year.
Mr Elsbury said he was committed to securing funding to rebuild both schools, but was unsure if it would be delivered this year.
“[Securing the funding] is something that is definitely on my radar. I am fighting for it but there are other Liberal members in the upper house [of parliament] and we are looking at a tight budget.”
The education department did not respond before the Weekly went online.
