EXTRA money has been found to allow schools to carry out vital repairs - but this will not make a significant dent in the overall maintenance backlog.
Education minister John O'Dowd allocated £12million to areas under pressure as part of an internal October monitoring exercise on Wednesday.
School maintenance was given £9m boost, with furniture and equipment for capital projects and special educational needs given more than £1m each.
The total backlog is understood to be tens of millions of pounds.
Mr O'Dowd said additional finances were being made available to inject into front-line education services that were experiencing pressures.
"The education sector continues to deal with unprecedented financial pressures as a result of the £1.5billion reduction in the Executive's budget from Westminster. I have taken every action possible to protect education funding and those front-line services within the department's remit," he said.
"School maintenance is an area which has been under considerable pressure. I am therefore pleased to be able to allocate £9m to ensure that repairs to the school estate are able to continue. This investment will be welcome news not only to schools but also those contractors and their employees contacted to carry out maintenance work/repairs.
"With increasing numbers in special educational needs, this is also an area which requires additional funding. I will continue to exercise prudent financial management to ensure money is directed where needed."
