SHOCKING: Gympie kids left behind when it comes to education

Despite the presence of a TAFE and uni campus, the region’s low higher learning levels concerning

Greens candidate Lauren Granger-Brown has teed off on with the Gympie region’s woeful education record which she says is leaving the region’s youth behind.

AN APPALLING education record revealing almost a fifth of Gympie region students do not reach Year 11, and those who do graduate without basic math and literacy skills, has been hammered by the region’s newest State political hopeful.

Greens candidate Lauren Granger-Brown this week took the state’s politicians to task over their failure which she said had left the region’s youth high and dry.

“The level of highest educational attainment … bachelor degree or higher is less than 10 per cent,” she said.

“That, in a town which has a uni campus, is a bit of a concern.

Greens candidate says the region’s education results should be better given it’s home to a university and TAFE.

“More of a concern is that 10.9 per cent leave with Year 9 or below, and a whopping 17.5 per cent only reach Year 10.

“That is striking.

“Why isn’t anyone doing anything about that?

“It’s outrageous.”

Ms Granger-Brown, an English language teacher, moved to Gympie from Melbourne a decade ago, drawn to “the idea of regional lifestyle”.

MORE GYMPIE NEWS

* Teen dumped stolen ute in cemetery lake after ramming car

* 4WD plunges into Gympie loungeroom after handbrake fail

“I loved city life, and previously always lived in cities... but I wanted a slower pace of life, community, away from noise and pollution,” she said.

“So I bought my little piece of paradise up the road.”

Now she wants to ensure the future of that paradise for those who share it.

She says there are students graduating in the region without having even basic maths and literacy skills.

“We’re in an economically depressed region, we have an underfunded public education systems and really poor educational outcomes.

“And people are leaving Year 12, I’ve heard from local teachers, without basic literacy and numeracy.

“If we’re just accepting it’s a place for the elderly, and the youth are leaving, why is nobody asking why and trying to address that?”

She said the Greens’ policies were built to fix this, including increasing he Queensland Government’s share of the needs-based school resourcing to 80 per cent and installing a technology fund to cover the “huge cost” to families of now-essential items like laptops.

MORE GYMPIE NEWS

* Coast truckie stranded on road for three months

“It’s no longer enough to go school with a paper and pen,” she said.

Lauren Granger-Brown would welcome the chance to talk to people who think they already know what the Greens are about.

These policies had all been fully costed, she said, adding she would be happy to help dispel the rumours and myths often floated abut the Greens.

“People have been told what the Greens are like,” she said.

“I would like to meet people who are Greens doubters … for a respectful conversation.

“I would welcome the opportunity to meet people who actually don’t know who the Greens are, or who think they know who the Greens are but are probably wrong.”

Originally published as