CATH NEWS REPORT:
Screenshot from the Australian Human Rights Commission web page
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Indigenous attendance rates at public high schools across the country are falling, except in Western Australia, where they were stable - but indigenous attendance at Catholic schools bucked the trend, improving in most states, The Australian reports.
Figures released in the Productivity Commission's annual Report on Government Services show attendance rates for Year 10 students at public schools fell between 2007 and 2009 in every state and territory except WA.
At Catholic schools, attendance was highest across the nation, with participation increasing in most states. Attendance in Victoria increased from 82 to 88 per cent, in South Australia from 85 to 90 per cent, and in Tasmania from 89 to 93 per cent.
The largest declines were in South Australia and the ACT, which recorded drops of 6 per cent over the three-year period, and in Tasmania, which fell 5 per cent.
WA recorded the lowest participation rates in the nation -- 64 per cent -- followed by the NT on 67 per cent and South Australia on 69 per cent.
Independent school figures are down in South Australia, where indigenous attendance rates dropped from 87 per cent in 2007 to 78 per cent in 2009, from 99 to 93 per cent in Tasmania, and a staggering 93 to 71 per cent in the ACT. Attendance rose from 67 per cent to 87 per cent in 2008 in Victoria, before dropping to 80 per cent. It also rose from 72 to 79 per cent in WA and 72 to 81 per cent in Queensland.
Julia Gillard last week prioritised halving the gap in Year 12 attendance in her Closing the Gap speech.
The Prime Minister called on parents and carers to send their children to school, and said the government had built new classrooms and science centres in 29 remote communities.
School Education Minister Peter Garrett yesterday repeated Ms Gillard's Closing the Gap goals, but said while there were positive signs across the education sector, "additional emphasis on attendance is needed in state systems".
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