Concerns have been raised after children in a Northern Territory Indigenous community were found to not have attended school for nearly nine months. The Education Department has sent officials and even a private investigator to try and solve the issue. But elders are questioning why more hasn't been done.
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00:00Sunday school in the community of Alparulum. Kids of all ages are here for today's lesson
00:11about the Ten Commandments. Over at the community's actual school, things
00:21look very different. They really need to wake up and come and
00:27listen to us. For nearly nine months, parents have been
00:33keeping their kids away from the school due to infighting between teachers and allegations
00:38of inappropriate behaviour levelled at one employee.
00:41We want this to stop and get back to normal, you know.
00:46Parent Letitia Mahoney says a staff member at the school warned her to keep her kids
00:51away. They just told me not to send the kids to
00:55school. There was something happening there and then that's when I said, oh, that's very
01:01strange. Teachers have also been leaving the Alparulum
01:05school at an alarming rate. I'm just concerned about them. I don't really
01:10know what the problem is. The ABC has spoken to six former school staff
01:15on the condition of anonymity who allege they were either bullied or witnessed inappropriate
01:20behaviour at the school. Many say the problems centre on one assistant
01:24teacher, who the ABC has chosen not to name. Former teachers claim the man made inappropriate
01:30comments about sex and drugs, including in front of students.
01:35Last year, a teacher lodged a formal complaint with the NT Education Department, alleging
01:40the assistant teacher dropped his pants in a classroom and exposed himself.
01:45The complainant couldn't remember if children were in the room at the time.
01:50The assistant teacher strongly denies all the allegations against him, saying they're
01:54vexatious lies in a long-running campaign against him by some teachers and that he'd
01:59been investigated and cleared. For now, kids are making the most of their
02:06spare time. I'm just concerned about their education.
02:11A former senior NT policeman was contracted to look into the school's problems late last
02:16year, but his findings and the cost to the taxpayer have remained a secret.
02:22A senior bureaucrat from the NT Education Department visited Alperulam while the ABC
02:26was in town to hold meetings about the crisis, but only stayed in the community for one day.
02:33Many who wanted to meet with him missed out, and blame the department for not arranging
02:37it properly. For him to come out just for a day, this is
02:41a really big issue. NT Education Minister Jo Hersey said she was
02:45aware of an ongoing situation at the school and that the sensitive matter was being managed
02:50by her department. A long-standing Northern Territory policy
02:57of tying school funding to attendance has taken a devastating toll.
03:03Alperulam's funding has been slashed from around $1.2 million in 2019 to around $800,000
03:10this year. You've got less money for all of the good
03:13stuff like language learning, learning on country, and so there's a downward spiral
03:18that doesn't support attendance. A new funding model will begin in the new
03:23year, but elders say a turnaround at the school will take more than just money.
03:28They should come and investigate and see what's happening. Our kids are missing out on education.