Katherine News
Release Enrolment And Attendance Figures
The Territory Opposition is demanding the Chief Minister release enrolment and attendance figures for the 6 Northern Territory communities where welfare payments have been linked to school attendance.
The Australian newspaper reports today that since January, 69 children from the six trial communities
Yet only half of those children's families have entered into an agreement with the school authorities aimed at improving school attendance and just two of the families who failed to comply with the plan have been referred to Centrelink.
'The fact that not a single welfare payment has been suspended in the 6 communities and just 2 cases have been referred to Centrelink suggests the Department of Education is resistant to the idea of linking welfare payments to truancy,' says Terry Mills, Leader of the Opposition.
'We really need to know exactly what the school enrolment and attendance situation is like in these communities.
'The limited data released so far indicates there needs to be a cultural change within the NT Education Department.
'Unless the Education Department accepts the need for parents to bear the consequences for failing to send their kids to school there will be far too many truants in the Territory.
'At the heart of the Territory's appalling NAPLAN results is an unacceptably high truancy rate.
'Kids who don't go to school have little chance of learning how to read, write and count.
'Unless they develop adequate literacy and numeracy skills the school children of today will be the prison population of tomorrow.
'To get these kids at risk to school there must be a consequence for not attending.
'We simply cannot afford to lose another generation of kids to a life of illiteracy, unemployment and crime.'
2009-10-01
