Page 2934 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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youth and get them ready to run this territory and this country. The human factor is entirely missing. This is purely a resource gain.
I have spoken to quite a few school groups in my own electorate about the closure program. There are some pretty sad cases. One of the saddest examples that I see is the Kambah area. In the Kambah area we stand to see a high school and at least two primary schools closed. There is a high likelihood that a very significant number of the schools serving Kambah will close. That will cause great detriment. It will gut the Kambah community. I want to read out a letter that Johnno, a concerned student from Kambah high school, has written to me. He says:
Dear Steve,
I am writing this letter to you in regards to the proposed closure of Kambah High School in 2007 under the ACT government’s “Towards 2020” plan on behalf of the Kambah High School SOS group.
Mr Hargreaves: Did you write this one yourself?
MR PRATT: He is up there, minister.
Mrs Burke: He is in the public gallery.
MR PRATT: You can go and ask him. Go up there and ask him, minister.
Mr Hargreaves: Oh, that Johnno!
MR PRATT: Unlike you, minister, I do not mislead you or anybody else. Minister, this is what he had to say:
The “Towards 2020” plan leaves many in the community feeling betrayed by the current government. There is an obvious need to rationalise schools in the ACT—
Here is a rational, thinking young man who understands the needs of the community. He goes on to say:
… but we feel that there is an adequate amount of high schools and colleges to meet the needs of the ACT community.
There has been obviously little thought behind the proposal as many statistics presented in the brochure leave room for debate, for example …
He goes on to highlight some very interesting points. He says:
In the brochure it claims Kambah High has a capacity of 722 and with 296 students is operating at 41 percent capacity, will Wanniassa school senior site is the same design and age as Kambah High and yet that school has a current capacity of 836 and an enrolment of 353 and the school only has 57 more students than KHS. When does 57 students tip this kind of scale?
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