Four new schools costing more than £100 million are on the way for 4,000 pupils in Tayside and Fife.
The projects, confirmed by Education Minister Mike Russell on Wednesday, will be part of the third phase of the £1.25 billion Schools for the Future programme.
Thirty school-building schemes across the country will be funded, including replacements for Baldragon Academy, a 700-pupil school in the north-west of Dundee, and Forfar Academy, which has 1,100 pupils.
A new school in Fife will replace Buckhaven High and Kirkland High in Leven, which jointly have 1,700 pupils, and there will be a new secondary for Perth and Kinross at a location in Perth yet to be decided.
Work on the Fife and Angus projects could get under way in the next 12 to 18 months.
No timescale has been set for the Dundee school and Perth and Kinross Council will have to work out where new housing will go before picking a suitable site.
Mr Russell said: ”Providing the best possible school accommodation is vital to the successful delivery of Curriculum for Excellence.
“The first two phases of Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme are already lifting thousands of pupils out of poor-quality buildings.
”We have met every local authority’s request for priority builds and added an extra 12 schools to the programme because of the Scottish Future Trust’s vigorous commitment to value for money.
”By the time the programme finishes, local and Scottish Government will have built 67 new schools, lifting over 46,000 pupils into top-quality accommodation.”
He added that the construction industry would benefit from the investment.
However, Liberal Democrat education spokesman Liam McAthur said: ”Time and again we have heard that part of the Scottish Futures Trust work has been to shrink the size of classrooms.
”That is how they have found part of the savings they have trumpeted. We need to make sure that pupils aren’t going to find themselves crammed into smaller classes for the whole of their school lives simply so that the Scottish Government can put out a boastful press release.”
grsmith@thecourier.co.ukFor more coverage of how the announcement affects your area, see your local edition of Thursday’s Courier