25 March 2022
Additional funding for Indigenous boarding students is an important and critical development, National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins said today.
“The federal government’s move to extend the Indigenous Boarding Providers grants program by an additional $17.3 million will help improve educational outcomes for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students,” Ms Collins said.
“Catholic schools are present throughout Australia, including some of the most remote communities, and we welcome the decision to extend the Indigenous Boarding Initiative into 2023, a move which will improve not just the student learning, but also see students maintain connections to their communities.”
Ms Collins said a number of Catholic boarding schools were successful in accessing the 2021-22 Indigenous boarding grants and have used the funding to continue to provide quality learning environments.
Catholic education operates 48 boarding schools which cater for 2,435 (FTE) Indigenous boarding students across Australia. More than 26,000 Catholic school students are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
NCEC is the peak body for Catholic Education in Australia and is responsible for the national coordination and representation of Catholic schools and school authorities.
There are 1,755 Catholic schools educating over 785,000 or one in five Australian students and employing over 102,000 staff.
