Nearly every school in Kent contains asbestos.

But there are calls for calm from authorities concerned parents might be scared to send their children back to school.

The BBC’s Inside Out programme, broadcast on Wednesday night, investigates the problems of managing the substance in public buildings.

Details obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed 554 out of 599 schools in Kent still contain asbestos. That equates to 92.5 per cent.

Kent County Council’s Head of Operations Peter Binnie said there is no need to be alarmed.

“It is a fact schools in the county have asbestos in them, but it is managed properly and there is very little risk to children or teachers.

“As our Building Schools for the Future programme kicks in, Government money will allow us to refurbish our schools. This asbestos will be taken away.

“Kent’s schools are very safe. Kent manages its asbestos extremely well.

“Every three months we issue a publication to schools called Blueprint and in the last 12 months three issues contained articles raising asbestos awareness. So there is a huge amount of training and monitoring.”

Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury was visited by a team of asbestos surveyors as part of the programme.

Head Teacher Simon Murphy said: “There may well be some parents who will worry that asbestos is a health concern for students and staff at our school.

“It is not.

“As a result of the day’s filming, we found we need to improve the procedure we use in the management of contractors on site and we found there were three very small areas on site where, despite there being no identifiable hazard to staff or students, it was best to carry out some remedial encapsulation.”

The matter has since been reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and an inspector has toured the school. The HSE concur with the programme’s findings that there is no occupational or health hazard to students or staff.

Inside Out: Asbestos in the Classroom, is shown on BBC One at 7.30pm on Wednesday.