Minister ‘reneged’ on bus bargain

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 2

Minister ‘reneged’ on bus bargain

The Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, has reneged on a bargain struck with the rural community, says the Opposition spokesman on education, Miss Ruth Richardson.

“The bargain was that in return for eliminating the smaller rural schools, the children would be bussed to the more central schools," she said.

If the Government did not keep its part of the bargain, country people had every right to demand that the closed schools be opened again, Miss Richardson said.

“The economic consequences of that are horrific,” she said. It was unlikely that the Correspondence School would be able to cope with any extra pupils who applied because their bus service had been cut.

"The Correspondence School teachers,.. told me that they are already short-staffed. They are already under significant pressure, and they really don’t see how they could cope,” she said. More correspondence teachers would have to be employed to cope with the increase, she said.

Miss Richardson said Mr Marshall had not fully thought out the economic consequences of reducing the bus service.