Indigenous gap widens at school

THE death rate of indigenous children is falling but their school attendance has worsened.

THE death rate of indigenous children is falling but their school attendance has worsened and up to one-third are still failing to reach national literacy and numeracy standards, the latest COAG Reform Council report shows.

Indigenous death rates have risen in NSW and only the Northern Territory is on track to close the gap in indigenous adult deaths by 2031, says the report, which measures progress on nationally agreed benchmarks.

The indigenous adult death rate in the Territory fell by 45.9 per cent between 1998 and 2010 to 1432.6 per 100,000 but it is still almost three times higher than the national rate.

The good news in the Council of Australian Governments report is the success in bringing down the indigenous child death rate, which fell from 252 per 100,000 in 1998 to 203 per 100,000 in 2010.

However, the rate is still twice as high as for other Australian children.

The indigenous child death rate is highest in the NT at 322 per 100,000 children and lowest in NSW at 157.4 per 100,000.

"If current trends continue, the target to halve the gap in mortality rates between indigenous and non-indigenous children is on track to be met," Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said.

"The gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is still too large in a number of areas.

"Closing the gap takes time and commitment but progress is being made and we are delivering real change to the lives of indigenous Australians."

The states have pledged to halve the literacy and numeracy gap by 2018 and while there has been some progress, the COAG report shows up to a third of indigenous students are still failing to reach the national standards.

The literacy gap among Year 3 students fell to 18.6 per cent last year but the gap among Year 5 students in Victoria and Year 9 students in NSW increased.

School attendance for indigenous students got worse in every state between 2007 and 2010.

Year 10 attendance rates plummeted by eight points to just 61 per cent in the NT over the period.

While nationally the Year 7/8 to Year 12 apparent retention rate for indigenous students rose from 42.9 per cent to 47.2 per cent, just 29.8 per cent of indigenous students in the Territory completed Year 12 in 2010, down from 45.9 per cent in 2007.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett said the report found the states were on track to halve the gap in reading achievement by 2018.

"Progress points towards the target were met in reading in every year level, and in maths for Years 3 and 5," he said.