Thousands of North-East schoolchildren have been offered the prospect of 21st Century facilities to replace their crumbling classrooms.

The Government has announced that Middlesbrough is among ten areas selected for the second phase of an ambitious secondary school buildings modernisation drive.

And County Durham will be in the following wave of the Building Schools for the Future programme whose first phase includes Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside.

Middlesbrough Council's £100m bid could receive funding in 2006 to give all secondary pupils state-of-the-art schools.

Its plans include a new school to serve the Hall Garth and King's Manor catchment area, a new Roman Catholic School for the whole town, a new building for Acklam Grange School and the development of Ormesby School.

Also, special schools for secondary pupils will be rebuilt and either located next to mainstream schools or fully refurbished.

Paul Thompson, the council's executive member for education, said: "There is still a lot of hard work to so, but this is encouraging news and means we can now create detailed plans to convince the Department for Education and Skills of the need for these changes, which will bring excellence within the reach of every secondary pupil in Middlesbrough.

"The facilities will be at least on a par with those already enjoyed by students in the town's City Academies.''

Middlesbrough's Mayor, Ray Mallon, said: "This is excellent news and will greatly assist our drive to raise standards in all our schools. "We hope to create an environment in which learning and excellence are encouraged and all our young people can realise their potential.''

Durham County Council had hoped to be in the first and second waves but its £125m bid, centred on the deprived former mining area in the east of the county, will be in the third wave that will be funded in the 2007-08 financial year.

The programme will centre on the secondary schools at Seaham, Easington, Wellfield and Peterlee.

Neil Foster, the council cabinet member for Lifelong Learning, described the announcement as "tremendous news''.

"Replacing or improving our school buildings will significantly help to raise educational standards which has always been our main priority.

"We can now start planning and working with schools and local communities to find out their specific needs and how the funding will come together.''

The Government says that by 2011 every education authority in the region will be on the programme, which is designed to help improve attainment by improving facilities.

Schools Standards Minister and South Shields MP David Miliband said capital investment in schools was dramatically increasing.