When Elmhurst Primary School closed its doors in March this year, it was the 10th school to close in regional Victoria in the past five years. The school that was once proudly promoted as one of Victoria’s oldest public schools had just four students attending before it closed and its abandonment highlights a trend of rural school closures across Australia.
Despite news stories about remote workers flocking to regional towns and pushing property prices up, many small communities are struggling to maintain adequate infrastructure and attract families – and the impact on education is obvious.
And with many people believing that preserving educational opportunities in rural areas will help communities grow stronger, school closures can feel like a death knell.
Declining infrastructure impacts Australia’s rural education
In a recent article in The Guardian, the closure of Elmhurst Primary School was described as leaving the town – less than 200 kilometres from Melbourne – grappling with the consequences of a shrinking population and limited infrastructure.
According to ABC, a recent Victoria University study revealed approximately 1.1 million individuals living in regional and remote areas of Australia lack access to childcare services.
The study also highlighted the lack of early childhood education in many regional and rural location – and without these important resources to support young local families, sticking around in many rural communities seems too difficult.
Government support needed for rural education
The closure of Elmhurst Primary School raises questions about government support for rural education.
The challenge of enticing qualified teachers to move to rural areas is another issue. In Victoria, a targeted financial incentive promises up to $50,000 in pre-tax payments for suitably qualified teachers to take up hard-to-staff positions. Elsewhere in Australia, other state governments are involved in similar initiatives.
It’s too late for Elmhurst Primary School but the school’s closure is a powerful reminder of how easily rural communities are at risk of fading away, without critical support for improved infrastructure.
Before 76-year-old Cathy McCallum retired to the regional centre of Ballarat, she was a teacher at Baringhup Primary Cchool and lived in the community for 20 years, working alongside her husband, Bill.
McCallum calls rural schools the “glue in a small community”. With the right funding, she believes, they can provide a great education. But with more rural schools across Australia closing – including her own Baringhup Primary School – McCallum says communities are left grieving.
In an article in Victoria’s The Age newspaper, she described Baringhup Primary as “a really important part of the town”. Losing it, she said, “was a real punch in the guts and had a devastating impact on everyone”.
