I have an increasingly strong feeling that the Government is not to be trusted in its plans to rebuild the education sector in Christchurch. Some of the announcements in recent days smack of a hidden agenda, one that will become clearer in the next year or so. They are ripping communities apart---those very communities that depended on these ‘soon to be closed or merged schools.’
The Government has failed to even acknowledge the role that teachers (many of whom were also suffering from the effects of the earthquakes) and how they held together many of the communities based around the damaged schools.
I also note John Minto’s claim that the Government may have many of these schools reopen sometime in 2014 as Charter Schools. Why should we trust a government on Education issues after so many blunders and misinformation statements have been issued since the earthquakes?
The answer is that we can’t. The answer is also hidden in the desire of the Government to slash the Education ‘spend’ by reorganizing the sector in Christchurch and beyond. You can be sure that any ‘savings through reorganizing’ will be replicated elsewhere at the first opportunity.
Is this just one more fiasco, similar to what we have seen re the Asset Sales Programme? I think yes. www.authorneilcoleman.com
No comments:
Post a Comment