LONDON: Britain’s education minister Gillian Keegan apologised for an expletive-ridden outburst on Monday after complaining she wasn’t being thanked enough for doing a “[f-word] good job” in dealing with potentially hundreds of unsafe school buildings.

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       The revelations of old and weak concrete in schools, which saw 104 ordered to shut buildings only days before the start of a new term and others using rooms propped up by steel girders, has sparked anger among parents and teachers.

       Keegan said the government was still awaiting responses from about 1,500 schools that were sent surveys to identify those with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a lightweight form of concrete commonly used during the 1960s-80s but now considered weak and unsafe.

       Keegan risked inflaming the debate further in unguarded remarks caught on camera following a separate interview with ITV, when she suggested she had done more than others to try to resolve the issue.

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       “Does anyone ever say ‘you know what, you’ve done a [f-word] good job, because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing?’,” Keegan, Brita-in’s fifth education secretary in two years, said. “No signs of that, no?”.

       Keegan later apologised for using “choice language” and said her comments were “unnecessary”.

       She told BBC Radio that schools suspected to have RAAC would be inspected in the next two weeks, adding that while most may not have RAAC, “hundreds” could.

       Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2023