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AN extra 25,000 students from disadvantaged families in Victoria will have access to free school uniforms, books and other basics as part of a $15.6 million state government program.
Premier Daniel Andrews visited Maryborough Education Centre on Thursday to make the announcement, which would add to the 10,000 students who benefited from the program last year – taking it up to 35,000.
Maryborough – and the wider Central Goldfields Shire – has been identified as an area of disadvantage in a number of reports.
Mr Andrews said the government had delivered on an election promise to support low income families to pay for school costs.
“This school, and schools like this across the state, are sharing extra funding to support low income kids, to attend school camps – this is new money,” he said.
“We’re here to celebrate the biggest boost to State Schools’ Relief that the organisation has ever seen.”
The funding would flow to organisation State Schools’ Relief to co-ordinate applications from individual schools for funding for disadvantaged parents.
The organisation would then determine the eligibility the students before providing funding.
The previous state government removed the Education Maintenance Allowance, which had provided $150 per year for primary and $250 for secondary school students of disadvantaged families.
The government instead gave the funding directly to schools, based on their level of disadvantage, to be distributed at the discretion of the principal.
The change led to charities and other organisations bracing for spike in low income families looking for support, as poorer families at richer state schools would be less likely to receive support.
Mr Andrews said the government had an obligation to support these parents.
“We understood this on the way into government. We heard that the cuts had been far too harsh,” he said.
“I’ve got a very different set of priorities. I think we are prosperous enough state, we are a progressive enough to state, to make sure that we always provide a helping hand to those who are least fortunate.”
The Premier toured Maryborough Education Centre with principal David Sutton, meeting Grade 1 students and describing the town as “proud” despite the many people doing it tough in the region.