‘Third-world’: Unhygienic, severely damaged state of remote Qld school

Deplorable conditions, including black mould and inadequate toilet facilities have been uncovered at a remote Queensland school.

The girls bathrooms at Tagai State College. Pic: Supplied by a student.

Deplorable conditions including black mould and severely damaged facilities have been uncovered at a remote Queensland school once visited by the state government’s highest ranking MPs.

The disgusting conditions at Tagai State College’s Thursday Island campus have been exposed by a concerned student who, in letters seen by the Courier-Mail, has called for urgent action to make the school fit for use.

Pictures show black mould, rusty nails exposed on tables used by students, holes in walls, tarps on roofs, shredded curtains, torn chairs used by teachers and other broken facilities across the school — 800km from Cairns.

Federal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch, who has helped the student raise the alarm, described the conditions at the main Tagai State College campus as akin to “third-world prisons”.

Mould growing at Tagai State College.

Then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her frontbench visited the school in September 2022 and held cabinet in a newer-looking conference room.

At the time an early talent search for 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games was also held, with Ms Palaszczuk saying “remoteness should not be an obstacle to success”, while spruiking investments to the school infrastructure.

The student whistleblower, in a letter sent to decision-makers, said Tagai State College was in “no way acceptable to the Queensland school standards”.

A classroom at Tagai State College.

“The buildings themselves are not built to withstand the intensity the annual wet seasons imposes. Whether through ignorance, laziness or on accident, a few feeble tarps placed on rooves to ‘rectify’ the leaking ceiling will not do anything about torrential downpour,” they wrote.

“Worst of all in regards to hygiene standards: the bathrooms are in no way appropriate – there is black mould appearing in rooms semi-regularly and this takes the cake. In the (junior) girls’ bathroom only a handful of the stalls close and lock, even fewer have toilets that actually work.”

Furniture at Tagai State College is in a state of disrepair.

Queensland Education Director-General Michael De’ath confirmed the department’s head of infrastructure was dispatched to Thursday Island in April in the aftermath of the letter.

Queensland Education confirmed it had allocated nearly $3m in 2024/25 to Tagai State College’s Thursday Island campus to refurbish student amenities.

“The contract for this project is expected to be awarded in Term 4, 2024,” a spokeswoman said.

Photos sent from student at Tagai State College

“Mould remediation work is also underway across various spaces of the secondary campus. Other rectification works, such as roof replacements, have been completed or are underway.

“For schools like Tagai SC where growth does not trigger a portion of capital investment, the Queensland Government is investing $383.1 million in 2024–25 to renew state school facilities across Queensland, including amenities and specialist spaces and $130 million to deliver new or improved school halls and performing arts centres.

“Since 2015, the department has invested almost $20.2 million in building and maintaining education infrastructure across Tagai CS Thursday Island Primary and Secondary campuses, and plans to spend an additional $2.98 million in 2024-25.

Opposition education spokesman Dr Christian Rowan said the state government had been again exposed for failing schools and students in First Nations communities.“It is no wonder that literacy and numeracy outcomes for Queensland’s indigenous students are significantly lower than non-indigenous students, with the Labor State Government failing to Close the Gap on educational outcomes,” he said.