Teachers jobs saved in drought-hit regions as government quarantines 220 schools
SCHOOLS in drought-ravaged regions are shedding students as families hit the road to find work. Teachers are being promised they won’t be pulled out of shrinking schools, saving many jobs.
NSW
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SCHOOLS in drought-ravaged regions are shedding students because families are upping stumps and heading off in search of work.
The state government will today promise not to pull teachers out of shrinking country public schools in isolated areas suffering from intense drought.
Without the intervention, country schools would have lost at least 100 teachers over the Christmas holidays.
The government has quarantined 220 schools from teacher losses, including Nyngan Public School between Dubbo and Bourke.
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The primary school with just 125 students has seen six kids leave since the drought took hold and another four are expected to leave when term finishes, which combined with other factors such as the socio-economic status of its students, should have seen one of 11 teachers pack up their belongings over the Christmas holidays and leave town.
“Those leaving are taking their families to find work elsewhere because they want stability for their families, which can’t be guaranteed out this way because of how bad the drought is,” Nyngan Public School principal Kylie Pearce said.
Ms Pearce needs every teacher she can muster because kids are being kept home to help handfeed cattle and need extra attention when they come to class.
“It’s a common occurrence for some of our families to keep their kids home to help on the farm because farmers don’t have the finances to employ staff to handfeed livestock,” Ms Pearce said.
“Having staff who know our children and our families and know what they’re going through will help the children who are absent and falling behind in their classes.”
According to the primary school principal farming families are doing their best to keep upbeat in the face of mounting debts and more hot and dry weather on the radar.
But the school has an important role to play keeping kids positive with extra-curricular activities such as drumming, dance and knitting, which all require teacher supervision.
This month is typically Nyngan’s most lucrative on account of wheat and barley harvest, but farmers this year have only had half the average rainfall and the vast majority of crops have withered and died.
As a result, the usual influx of machinery and truck drivers never came and local businesses have been crippled, which is why locals are leaving.
Education Minister Rob Stokes reassured rural families doing it tough that they had his full support, claiming the move would save schools from recruiting and training up new teachers once the drought breaks.
“We are aware of how tough the drought has been on farming families and their rural communities, and we are doing everything we can to ease its impact,” Mr Stokes said.
“Our announcement today means that isolated school communities severely impacted by the drought will have certainty and be able to continue to support local students and their families.”