In Darwin a school attendance program credited with boosting class attendance by 20 per cent for children from Indigenous town camps is struggling to ensure it can run during the next school term.
The program, run by charity Save the Children, provides a bus service for six town camps in the territory capital, which dare not serviced by regular school buses.
The attendance program operates in Knuckey’s Lagoon, Minmarama Park, Bagot, One Mile Dam and Gurdorrka – most of which are only kilometres from Darwin’s CBD and are often on the edge of expanding urban development, such as the 33-storey Evolution building.
The program partners with parents, schools and communities to provide a wide range of services from mentoring support to accompanying parents to parent-teacher interviews.
Funding for the program has run out and the charity is urging federal and territory governments to provide short-term funding until their IAS fundingapplication is heard.
Territory State Manager for Save the Children Australia Craig Kelly says the program has created community pride and given the town camps stability.
Mr Kelly says they have been getting by with a grant provided by Japanese oil company INPEX, but future funding is required to ensure the program can operate in the next school term.
Images: Rob McKechnie/Save the Children
