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Rural and Remote Education - NT

Rural and Remote

Education - NT

Daguragu community meeting,

13 May 1999 - notes

The Daguragu Community

was set up after the Walk-Off in 1967. The Walpiri people live at Kalkaringi

and the Gurindji people live at Daguragu.

Most of the community

resources are located at Kalkaringi although the CDEP program operates

from Daguragu. The primary school is located at Kalkaringi. There is no

secondary school. Children wanting to continue to secondary school are

sent away to Kormilda College or Yirara College. One child is engaged

in secondary education in Kalkaringi through correspondence school.

Access to education

"Most of the children

here do nothing. We need to tell everyone in Australia that we need to

look into education here because there is no secondary education. Our

kids have a primary school at Kalkaringi, but they don't have a high school.

So they go to Kormilda or Yirara and then they get homesick. They come

back and then they do nothing. We are looking to the parents to push this

issue because they are the ones with concern for the kids."

"When these kids

get to another college they get mixed up with Walpiri people and they

start fighting. That's no good. We're not like white people. You have

your kids over there and you have your school for them and the kids have

got to go right through school. But here, everybody is sent away to Kormilda

or Yirara."

"If we had a district

school we would want our kids to go to the local primary school here and

then we would like them to go to Katherine so that they can be together."

"We want our school

at Katherine to be a boarding school that our kids could stay at. Katherine

is very close. It would be the best place for the school. There are Gurindji

people living in Katherine and so it is better for our kids. Yirara is

too far away for us to see our children."

"If the children

are homesick it is only a four hour drive from here to see them. And there

is family there. The Gurindji and the Walpiri people who live in Katherine

are family. When the kids are in Katherine we have people and family travelling

there all the time. They feel closer to their family and their traditional

land."

"In the past our

children used to go to Alice Springs for School, but they don't go there

now."

"My daughter needs

to be close to me. When she was at Kormilda it was too far away. She needs

to be with me. It takes too long to get plane tickets to bring the homesick

children home. Then when they are home they worry about getting back to

school though sometimes this takes weeks."

Attendance

"We have a good primary

school here but there is poor attendance. I think the idea of working

towards getting a high school is good and worthy, but I think we've got

to work towards getting them to a high school standard first. We need

to work together with the school and the community to improve this situation,

we have to make more of the opportunity that we have. We have an excellent

facility at the school as I understand. To me it seems like a tragedy

that we have a good school here but it is not being used to anything like

its full capacity. Talking about getting kids to high school is a bit

of a dream if we can't get them to Year 6 or 7."

Schooling away from

home

"Children are sent

away from home for their secondary schooling due to social reasons and

also so that the children can have the opportunity to engage in sport."

"In some cases girls

of 12, 13, and 14 are sent away from the community to avoid a promised

marriage to an older man. This can cause tension in the community."

Disability

"There is one child

from the Daguragu community with special needs. He is participating in

mainstream classes with a special education teacher. The child has learned

how to sign."

"Ear and eye problems

are common amongst the children in Daguragu. Hearing is tested through

the school. Trachoma is also evident in the community."

School incentive

programs

"The Land Council

is planning a meeting of parents with school age children. The school

wants to work with the Land Council and the community to develop incentive

programs through recreation. Other incentives may include privileges through

education such as access to the shop. Children not attending school would

be denied access to the shop."

Community concerns

Participants at the

meetings in both Daguragu and Kalkaringi discussed issues relating to

cultural disjuncture between school life and community life. The Western

system of schooling is in many respects at odds with traditional Aboriginal

life. Thirteen to fourteen year old people are considered adults in some

Aboriginal communities. These young people may have been through ceremony,

and some may have children of their own. Within their home community these

young people may be participating in community life as young adults.

Western value systems

and Western education reinforce the notion that at this age group, young

people are not yet adults. The structures of discipline, paternalism and

control can be very insulting to young people who may consider themselves

adults.

Literacy levels are

very low amongst the children in the community. There are many skilled

people in their 30s and 40s in the community but the community is concerned

that there is a lack of skilled young people to take over the leadership

roles. Community elders fear the loss of Aboriginalisation of the community.

They fear that the traditional ways will be eroded if leadership does

not emerge through the younger people.

Last

updated 2 December 2001.