Reform NT’s failed school system to provide a fair go

The Australian’s week-long series on the crisis in Northern Territory education contained important lessons. The Territory’s school funding system, based on school attendances rather than enrolments, is not fit for purpose. Since 2015, the NT has been the only jurisdiction in Australia using that model. As a result, in 2021 some schools received only 30 per cent of their allocated income. The appalling conditions of some remote schools and the chronic lack of teachers – which means some students do not see a teacher for weeks at a time – are widening the gap between Indigenous children in remote areas and other Australian children.

However great their disadvantage, the series has shown that remote students, given a chance, do well and are happy. That was clear from the feature in The Weekend Australian about the success of independent community schools, backed by the students’ families and local communities, in providing a solid start in both Western subjects and in traditional skills. The situation warranted local intervention and the leaders behind those independent community schools are making an outstanding contribution. It should not have come to this. But local parents, understandably, want their children to know their own traditions and to be well prepared to take their place in the mainstream economy. That involves learning to hunt and to manage the bush as well as preparing multimedia presentations on their iPads.

Only a failed state would not provide all children’s classes with basics such as power, running water, functioning toilets and at least one full-time registered teacher. That is the predicament in some Homeland Learning Centres, small classrooms in very remote communities. Such serious inadequacies make the NT a failed state as regards education, which should be the foundation stone for offering Indigenous children much-needed opportunities.

Poor stewardship of taxpayer-provided funds has been a concern for many years in the NT and is the main problem. As reported on Wednesday, less than half of the 2021-22 NT education budget of $1.18bn went directly to schools. What happened to the rest is information contained on the 14th floor of a Darwin office building housing the Education Department and known by locals as “Carpetland”. Teachers and staff say they have been bullied and threatened with losing their jobs if they speak out. The secrecy is not acceptable and suggests there is plenty to hide. NT Education Minister Eva Lawler used other media last week to hit back at The Australian’s reports, denying the system was “broken”. But she did not deny the published details. Her claim that the system is “very strong, very robust’’ rings hollow when one in five NT children is effectively unfunded, the majority of students fail to meet minimum standards of literacy and numeracy, and attendance rates in some areas are as low as 18.7 per cent.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says NT public schools are the most underfunded in the nation. He is looking to next year’s National School Reform Agreement to address deficiencies, advised by a panel led by Lisa O’Brien, chair of the Australian Education Research Organisation and former CEO of The Smith Family. It will advise education ministers on reforms that should be tied to funding, with a focus on improvements for students most at risk of falling behind, including those in remote areas. That process must involve the NT government meeting its responsibilities.