Mother knows too well the value of education

WHEN Roberta Kalinic was growing up on Managoora station on the Gulf of Carpentaria, 760km east of Darwin, education was a rare thing.

Curtisha Shadforth

WHEN Roberta Kalinic was growing up on Managoora station on the Gulf of Carpentaria, 760km east of Darwin, education was a rare thing.

"There was no school out there," Ms Kalinic said. "Everything I know I taught myself, with the help of my parents."

Now a bookkeeper working with Mungoorbada Aboriginal Corporation in the remote gulf community of Robinson River, Kalinic learned the value of education the hard way. She hopes her daughter, Curtisha Shadforth, 5, won't have to.

"Education is the biggest key to success in life," she said. "I would like her to have the opportunities that I never had."

Curtisha, who has completed preschool, says she enjoys painting and learning her ABCs.

"I like to read the pigs story," Curtisha said. "It's about going hunting and looking for pigs."

Julia Gillard singled out the pair in her remarks to parliament yesterday presenting the Closing the Gap report, as examples of what is being achieved in remote indigenous communities.

"A woman who, in our own lifetimes, while we did our exams and gained our qualifications, was denied the chance to go to school," Ms Gillard said of Ms Kalinic. "Yet already Curtisha has completed preschool, she knows how to hold a pencil, listen to the teacher, and adapt to the formal routines of the day."

She told parliament this Closing the Gap report was significant because it marked the anniversary of targets set five years ago.

"In 2008 we pledged to deliver access to early childhood education to all four-year-olds in remote communities within five years," she said.

"Well, the five years are up. I'm proud to say we've got it done."

She said the next step was to ensure school attendance rates were up to scratch.