Lack of rural schools divides families as mums, kids seek city education

WOMEN are having to abandon their husbands in rural communities so their kids can get an education.

With about a quarter of the state lacking access to a government high school, rural families who can’t afford boarding school are being forced to separate to keep the family’s business or properties running while mum and the kids move to the city.

Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association boarding schools head Jacqui Beale said more families were having to confront the possibility of separation.

“Most people don’t want to send their child away, so we have found a lot of mums are leaving and dads are staying, so families are having to split,” she said. “It’s not a very easy choice at all.”

Eight shires in Queensland that don’t have a high school include Diamantina, Croydon, Barcoo, Bulloo, Burke, Boulia, McKinlay and Etheridge, covering more than 441,600sq km. Another three only offer schooling up to Year 10.

Mrs Beale said the average cost of a Year 12 student to board at a Queensland school was $17,288, with the average tuition fee at $11,373 – meaning parents were having to fork out almost $30,000 a year for one child’s education.

Mother of three Genevieve Counsell lives in Brisbane, a 12-hour drive from the family’s property near Barcaldine in the central west.

“We decided, from an economic perspective, to make the decision to put the boarding fees into bricks and mortar,” she said. “More families are like us and having to live in different places … we just have the tyranny of distance to contend with.”

Mrs Counsell helps to run the business remotely – which brings its own challenges – while her husband, David, lives on the property and comes to visit at least once a term.

“We can’t just have our partners or family choose a different career for the period of secondary schooling, we are committed to life in regional Queensland,” she said.