The primary school teachers' union today accused Education Minister Trevor Mallard of disrupting children's education by planning to close down five South Taranaki schools instead of merging them.
Mr Mallard has signalled his intention of closing down Opunake, Oanui, Te Kiri, Pihama and Riverlea primary schools and replacing them with two
new schools at Opunake and Te Kiri.
The move would reduce the total number of state primary schools in the Opunake coastal area from 12 to nine.
The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) said that Mr Mallard appeared to have abandoned his policy of merging schools in favour of a disruptive policy shutting them down.
"That has a major impact on staff, which in turn has an impact on students and their communities," NZEI president Bruce Adin said in a statement.
"Teachers, principals and support staff will lose their jobs. These are staff who have worked for years in the community."
Mr Adin feared "anyone in the country" would be able to apply for jobs at the two new schools.
Despite falling rolls, the five schools marked for closure had recently been praised by the Education Review Office for their standard of education, he said.
Mr Mallard said today he wanted to create "fresh starts" for the schools by closing rather than merging them.
"I have taken this preliminary decision because of falling rolls in the Opunake area, which look set to continue to fall into the future," he said in a statement.
"There are also a number of small schools in relatively close proximity to each other, which are using more resources than a smaller number of larger schools would use."
Mr Mallard said he was seeking an arrangement with the union where priority position rights for teachers would be available.
Taranaki coastal schools have been invited to comment on his preliminary decision, which includes the retention of Opunake High School.
Two further school reviews are to take place in Taranaki in 2003/4. They will involve schools between Pungarehu and Omata and schools to the east of the current review area between Hawera and Stratford.
- NZPA
