Students in Greymouth are not turning up to school because they can not afford to catch the bus.
The Ministry of Education has cut a subsidy for primary and secondary school students living in the suburb of Cobden, saying it was never intended to be permanent.
Greymouth High School principal Samantha Mortimer said the decision is putting extra pressure on families. She wants to make it easy for students to get an education.
“Two days ago we had really bad weather in Greymouth and out of the 31 students, 17 out of the 31 were either late to school or just didn’t come in at all that day.
“Personally I’d like to see a free bus for all students but if we can’t do that just something that’s affordable,” said Mortimer.
Since 2015, students had been eligible for a $100 subsidy each term, which meant parents would pay just $1 per trip. Parents now have to spend $200 a term upfront.
One student said his family couldn’t afford the increase, so he would walk an hour to get to school along State Highway 6.
“I have been skipping school because it's too hard to walk across the bridge every day it's really cold especially when it's raining,” said the student.
Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson wrote to Education Minister Chris Hipkins, describing the funding withdrawal as “outrageous” and an “additional barrier”.
She said Cobden was a low socioeconomic area with many families needing support for access to equal opportunities, and they needed support to get children to school.
“The Government has actually announced $40m to try to get kids back into school after Covid and you know to avoid truancy and it seems quite basic to me just give these kids a ride to school.
“They cannot afford the proper thermals socks some of them,” said Gibson.
The Mayor provided 1News with a copy of the response from Chris Hipkins, in which he said he acknowledged the challenges that many whānau face in finding suitable transport options.
“However, caregivers are ultimately responsible for getting their children to and from school, and the Ministry provides school transport assistance to help caregivers to meet this obligation,” said Hipkins.
He pointed to the ministry’s criteria to determine eligibility for assistance, with one aspect being how far the students had to travel to school.
“Students must live more than a certain distance from school, 3.2 kilometres for Year 1-8, or 4.8 kilometres for Years 9-13.
“While school transport assistance is provided specifically for eligible students, the ministry has advised that transport providers may use excess seating capacity to carry ineligible students and can charge these students a fare at their discretion,” said Hipkins.
Parent Kerry Shaw said the distance for her daughter to get to school wasn’t far enough to get the subsidy.
“It's awful, it was even a really positive social interaction for her to feel part of her community and now it's divided the community which is really hard,” she said.
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