Is the district’s public education system meeting the needs of our children?

That’s the question a local MP is asking as he pleads with education stakeholders to look into the future of the district’s public schooling system.

Member for Mackillop Nick McBride says our public education system needs to keep pace and stay relevant.

He told The [Naracoorte Community] News that something did not seem right with the education system when parents continued to send their children to other schools, including Mount Gambier for their education.

Mr McBride says this raises a lot of questions about the relevance of our public education system when we have several schools at our doorsteps.

“I think the choice of parents needs to stay and remain, but the public schooling education system needs to keep pace, needs to be relevant, and needs to have a level of education that everyone can feel comfortable with and meet the needs of the students,” he said.

“Why are two buses leaving Naracoorte for Mount Gambier and those schools down there, and (another) one is going to Lucindale?

“What is it about Naracoorte High School that’s not meeting the needs of those students, and that’s what I mean by relevant.

“What is missing and why do students and parents think Naracoorte High School, for example, is not relevant or near what they can get from Mount Gambier and travel (daily two hours there and back)?

“What are the students getting there that they are not getting here?”

Mr McBride also highlighted that the practice of parents sending their children from regional South Australia to boarding schools was an old one.

And he says it’s because those parents value the education system in Adelaide, usually very much around high school and the finishing three years of high school.

“I think if you got to change that, it would be limited by the cost of that process, it’s very expensive,

it’s like $50,000 per year per student, so that is impossible for many families.

“Secondly, parents are taking the option to put their children on a school bus that sends them away from an education system in their local town.

“I think, firstly, you got to allow that.

“You can’t stop that, and that’s one of the things I would not do, and I had the real privilege of living in Armidale, NSW for two and a half years.

“There are 20,000 people in Armidale, and there are 20 schools, and every bus had to take the student to the school of their choice.

“And so, the schools had to compete, and it was known as an education Mecca.

“So, if you had a school that had a bad principal, bad teachers, and bad practice, it wasn’t going to be long before there were no students, because the choices were so huge and enormous to make.”

Mr McBride said while the choice of parents needs to remain, he was willing to engage with any education minister to ensure the public schooling system remains at pace, is relevant, and has a level of education that everyone can feel comfortable with and that meets the needs of the students.

“How do we do this? Look, that is a huge challenge with budgetary constraints. With the fact that we are not able to find the teachers we require and finding principals in our schools, several towns find this very difficult with the limited choices.

“All I can say is I will, I have, and I am going to continue to make sure our public schools, primary, high, or area schools remain relevant, meet the needs of the students, and have the (ability) to attract students.”

This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.

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