The school buildings that we do have are not fit for purpose, in that they are not necessarily appropriate to the demands of learning and teaching as we move through this century

Education Director Fraser Sanderson

Dumfries and Galloway education director Fraser Sanderson said: "There are three key elements driving it. One is the present condition of our school building stock. We have about �30m backlog of repairs and maintenance.

"The second is that we are looking at a significant 10% to 12% fall in our school roll over the next five years or so.

"And the third is that the school buildings that we do have are not fit for purpose, in that they are not necessarily appropriate to the demands of learning and teaching as we move through this century."

Unions will oppose any closures they perceive to be finance driven.

Cost-cutting exercise

Moira McCrossan of teaching union EIS said: "We would want to know that a school was being closed on education grounds; on the basis that the children would have a better education in other circumstances and that those were the reason for closure.

"We would not want to see schools being closed purely as a cost cutting exercise. We would be opposed to that completely."

Education officials said they had no preconceived idea of the final outcome.

But education committee chairman Tommy Sloan said doing nothing was not an option.