At least 9,000 pupils in Edinburgh have nowhere to go at the end of their Easter break after the emergency closure of 17 PFI-built schools due to safety concerns.

Councils across Scotland have been asked to check their school buildings as fears grow that all schools built under the same private finance initiative could pose a safety risk to children and staff.

Edinburgh city council is to close 10 primary schools, five secondaries, two additional support needs schools and a community centre from Monday morning. No date has been set for reopening, and parents and teachers have already expressed their worry about secondary pupils who are three weeks away from sitting their important exams.

Edinburgh Schools Partnership, which built and manages the buildings, has apologised to parents and pupils, and promised to “accept full financial responsibility for investigating and resolving these issues”.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, chaired an emergency meeting of her government’s resilience committee on Saturday to discuss the closures.

The Scottish education secretary, Angela Constance, said it was too early to assess the implications for schools in other parts of Scotland, but confirmed that officials had written to all local authorities over the weekend to ask them to carry out necessary checks on their buildings as soon as possible.

“We understand that all of the affected buildings in Edinburgh were completed over 10 years ago. We will ensure that, as more information about the nature of the issue in Edinburgh is established, this is passed on to other local authorities to assist them in this process,” she said.

The Green candidate for Lothian, Andy Wightman, is urging a review of all PFI contracts in Scotland in the next parliament.

“The private financing of schools, invented by the Tories, and championed by Labour, is not only a feature of Edinburgh. Nor is it even restricted to schools, with hospitals and other health facilities also built in this way,” he said.



“So the Edinburgh school fiasco opens up a massive can of worms as to what the true legacy is of years of private financing of core public services. That is why Green MSPs, in the new parliament, will be demanding a root and branch review of all PPP/PFI contracts - the cost, the condition of buildings and the future funding of them if further failures are uncovered.”