SECONDARY schools in Medway will share a £5.1bn government hand out to modernise every school in the country, just weeks after the education budget was slashed.

The Government's new strategic programme of rebuilding aims to bring facilities at secondary schools up to 21st century standards by 2020.

Despite a £1.8 shortfall in the education budget for Medway which at one stage looked like being a £7 million shortfall the education authority will be given extra cash to transform schools in the area from 2005.

Education minister David Miliband announced the plans on Wednesday as he launched a reform of the schools capital reform programme.

Liberal democrat and chairman of the Youth and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Pat Cooper, said: "It seems strange that this money can be found when we have had such a battle over the revenue budget just to keep our schools funded.

Medway spokesman for the NUT Doug Macari said: "Not only has Medway been badly hit by underfunding, but teachers this month were effectively given a pay cut. Our 2.8 per cent pay rise, when you take into consideration the extra one per cent of National Insurance we have to pay, is below the rate of inflation."