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Three year extension for remote school strategy
Federal Minister for Education, Senator Nigel Scullion meets the appointed Truant Officers at Ali Carung School in January. Image: NT News
supplied by Sen Scullion’s office 28 September 2015
T
he successful Remote School Attendance Strategy (RSAS) will be extended for another three years. Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, said getting children to school is one of the Government’s highest priorities. “RSAS started in 2014 after many years of no overall improvement in Indigenous school attendance,” he said. “Regular school attendance is necessary for children to gain a decent education which can
open up employment and higher education opportunities later in life. “The Government will invest $80 million in funding from the Indigenous Advancement Strategy to support the Strategy until 2018. “The RSAS is operating in 73 schools across 69 remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia and school attendance numbers have improved since the strategy was introduced in 2014.” The average attendance rate at Northern Territory Government RSAS schools increased by 4 per
cent between Term 4, 2013 and Term 4 2014. The increase was 5 per cent in comparable state schools in Queensland. Minister Scullion said more than 500 First Australians are working on the RSAS in remote communities. “In addition, a significant number of RSAS workers have obtained skills while working on the strategy that have enabled them to move on to other jobs,” he said. “By building on the lessons learned from the first two years of operation, RSAS staff will be better able to target their efforts to further improve school attendance rates.”
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