Do you have a child turning 13 this year? If you do, then you’re a parent of one the oldest ‘baby bonus boomers’ born between 2004 and 2014. In 2004, then Treasurer, Peter Costello, famously called for Australians to have “one (child) for your husband, one for your wife and one for the country.” And many of you answered his call, so many in fact, that first primary schools, and now high schools, are bearing the burden of this increase in student numbers. Unfortunately, those in charge of planning for education don’t seem to have accounted for the fact that babies turn into students and it is estimated more than 1500 schools are required across the nation by 2030.
The SMH article linked below states that a spokesperson for the NSW education department “acknowledged the growth in these areas” and that since 2011, 32 new or relocated public schools have been funded and 67 major upgrade projects announced. That just leaves 1468 to go……
Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney’s primary school overcrowding to hit high schools
June 17, 2017