Tuesday, 9 December 2008

Fed welfare plan discrimitary: NT council


Going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling: NT council of gov schools

The Federal Government plan to link school attendance to welfare payments is discriminatory, according to a peak Northern Territory education group.

Legislation passed by Federal Parliament will see some parents lose Centrelink payments for 13 weeks, if their children miss too much school.

The plan will be trialed in eight regions next year, including six Aboriginal communities in the Territory.

Michael Duffy from the N-T Council of Government Schools has said punishing parents isn't the way to go.

"They haven't discussed it with anybody, they haven't gone out and talked about how do you come to grips with this attendance business, what's school about?

"We have to set in place a process of education and we've actually got to be patient.

"The fundamental difficulty is that it's going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling."

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