The Nationals’ Member for Mildura, Jade Benham has expressed her frustration at the at the Minister for Education’s continued lack of commitment to funding shade structures at Koorlong Primary School.
Ms Benham asked Minister for Education, Deputy Premier, Ben Carroll when the government would likely fund shade structures over the school’s basketball court. The Minister advised that there was no room within the allocated program budget for this project and that the school will continue to receive fair and equitable consideration when determining future priorities.
The school’s applications for shade cover funding over their basketball court have been rejected several times since 2022.
“Parents can expect that school children are provided with safe areas in which to play and learn. This includes appropriate shade cover. In our region, we know the dangers of sun exposure and the Government needs to do more to ensure our kids are provided with basic safety measures.”
The issue has been exacerbated by recent safety measures that forced the school to remove all trees within a 10-metre radius of its buildings. With the region experiencing an unusually hot summer, students are once again being forced to seek alternative indoor activities due to the lack of outdoor shade.
Koorlong Primary School Principal, Stuart Pain, highlighted the challenge of the grant application process, stating, “It comes down to time and effort, and it’s just not feasible for a school that is under-resourced in staffing capacity to dedicate extensive time to writing grants for something that should already be provided to our students.”
While the school was successful in securing smaller grant amounts in 2020 and 2021, multiple attempts to obtain funding for a large shade structure have been unsuccessful. The principal further emphasised the demoralising nature of the process: “The whole process is too time-consuming and demoralising when applying for something that we continually get knocked back for.”
Adding to the frustration, unsuccessful applicants receive no feedback from the government, making it nearly impossible to improve future applications.
“This is yet another example of Labor’s inability to manage our education budget, and it is our kids who are paying the price,” Ms Benham said.
