Rural and Remote Education - NT
Rural
and Remote Education - NT
Xavier and Murrupurtinyanuwu
Community School, Nguiu, 11 May 1999 - notes
The Inquiry held
two meetings with the students from Xavier and Murrupurtinyanuwu Community
School (MCS). The first meeting was with the girls attending the schools
and the second was with the boys. Classes are sex-segregated for cultural
reasons. Aversion is practised between brothers and sisters after the
ages of 12 or 13 years.
Students talked about
the subjects and opportunities at their schools. They were asked questions
about the positive and the negative aspects of school education on the
Tiwi Islands.
MCS offers education
up until Year 8, which is the end of primary school. Students then attend
Xavier where they can continue with General Studies, Foundation Studies,
Intensive English and the Junior Secondary Studies Curriculum currently
being offered at Year 10.
Aspirations for
further study
Most students hope
to complete secondary schooling at Xavier up until and including Year
10. Students who want to complete secondary schooling from the Tiwi Islands
must travel to Darwin. St John's at Darwin provides a facility for boarding
where students can complete Years 11 and 12.
Year 10 students
from the Tiwi participate in work experience in Darwin. They spend one
week in Darwin doing this and most students enjoy the experience though
they find the experience of relocation quite difficult. Teachers travel
with the students during the week of work experience.
What we enjoy about
our school
"I like school because
you can do anything. You can do typing and you can use the computer. I
like writing stories and playing games. I write stories in English and
in Tiwi."
"We like to do music
at the school and we play the guitar. Everybody in our class plays the
guitar. We learn singing and dancing. We sing in both English and Tiwi."
"We learn about our
four skin groups. These are plants, sun, rock and fish. Our skin groups
come from our family skin groups, from our mothers and our grandmothers."
"I like dancing in
my dreaming. This comes from our fathers' side. This is the fathers' dance
and we learn it at school."
"After school we
have to do a lot of babysitting. Sometimes we take some homework home."
"I want to come to
school and I want to get a better job in my community. I want to be a
Councillor. I'm not sure how long I will be at school but after school
I would like to do some VET subjects or go to Batchelor."
"At school we like
to learn about computers and at recess we like to play footy at the oval.
We like to play games on the computer."
"School is lots of
fun. There are lots of activities. It's not just sport. School is about
education and education is power for me. And there are a lot of things
that I need to know about the whole world. When I leave school I might
go to a University in Darwin. I want to be a scientist. I will find a
school in Darwin before I go to University. In future I hope to be a President
of the Land Council."
Things that we would
like to change about our school
"We want better buildings
and we want air conditioning. The buildings are too old. We want a new
basketball court and a volleyball court."
"Some parents don't
give their kids money and so these kids get upset and to punish their
parents the kids don't come to school."
"Sometimes kids don't
come to school because of the fighting. There is too much jealousy. Some
kids pick on other kids and that is why they don't come to school."
"We want a uniform
at our school. We only have small sizes at our school and we don't have
larger sizes to fit us."
"We would like a
swimming pool. We can't swim in the sea because there are too many crocodiles
and stingers. When it is hot we stand under the tap. We can go fishing."
"We would like to
split up the toilets so that there are boy and girl toilets and bigger
buildings."
"Some kids don't
come to school because their parents spend their money playing cards and
buying grog and there is no money to buy food. The kids don't come to
school because they are hungry."
"Some kids think
that there is too much discipline at school. Some kids are just not interested.
These kids are about 16 or 17."
"What I don't like
about school is vandalism. I don't like wearing home clothes because I'm
embarrassed. We have a uniform at our school but mine is too small. I
would like to change the rules so that at recess we could have some more
time. We want it to be longer than 10 minutes."
"I want more excursions
and I want to go to different places for our excursions."
"Everything about
our school is OK but we need more students and especially older students.
We would like correspondence students too. This would make our school
better."
"There's not good
food at our school. I want a new tuckshop. I want better food."
"I want to come to
school every day. Some kids don't come to school because they are hungry
and mum and dad don't wake up and get them breakfast."
"We need new windows
because some of our windows are broken."
"There are also not
many kids wearing uniforms. We want the kids to wear their uniforms to
school."
"We don't want squabbling
and fighting in the playground."
Education and health
Classes have small
microphones that the teacher speaks into so that all children can hear
the classroom proceedings. Otitis Media is common among children in the
Tiwi Islands.
Breakfast is provided
at school. All students have access to this program.
Last
updated 2 December 2001.
