Parents are selling off machinery parts just so they can pay for their children to go to school due to the prolonged drought.
"That's how bad it's got," Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) NSW president Claire Butler said.
ICPA-NSW state councillors from Balranald to Mungindi travelled to Sydney last week to lobby politicians and deliver their education wish list outlined in their issues paper. In just two days they had 31 meetings with politicians as well as the Country Women's Association.
ICPA-NSW want the State Government to consider implementing low interest loans with similar terms to the HECS scheme to those affected by drought to assist with school fees.
"Our biggest concern is how we are going to educate our children going forward. For many families they don't have a choice, boarding school is the only option for secondary school as they live hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest school," Mrs Butler said.
"Water is a vital service that's needed to grow food and livestock but we need education to grow our children. Boarding schools are doing all the heavy lifting helping drought affected parents so the government needs to step up."
By using a HECS-like scheme, she said people would pay back the loan when the times were good and not be governed by a time-limit.
"People are moving further away for work, some are pulling their children out of school and others are selling machinery so they can continue their children's education," she said.
With the federal government pushing that every child should have access to 600 hours of preschool in the year before school, they also want to include preschoolers in the School Drive Subsidy. She said isolated families should be able to access the subsidy that was available for school-age students.
They are also recommending that the government consider students living in remote areas who are not eligible for the Assistance for Isolated Children funds due to distance criteria be deemed eligible for a statement of support in order to bypass the local school due to requiring an education that suits their individual needs and circumstances.
Journalist based on the Mid North Coast for The Land.
Journalist based on the Mid North Coast for The Land.
