NSW Govt urged to crackdown on HSC exploiters - ABC Online

Posted January 24, 2013 08:08:34

There are calls for the State Government to crack down on private schools who encourage their students to boost their Higher School Certificate (HSC) marks by exploiting disability provisions.

Figures from the New South Wales Board of Studies shows one in three Newcastle Grammar students who sat last year's HSC exams applied for special assistance.

A quarter of all Year 12 students at Sydney's Loreto Kirribilli and St Andrew's Cathedral School also used the provisions, while seven other independent schools had at least one in five students apply.

Commonwealth figures show three quarters of all disabled students attend public schools.

NSW Greens MP John Kaye says it is difficult to believe so many private school students need the extra help.

"It just does not add up," he said.

"Where you have a school which has one third of its students claiming special needs it's very hard to believe that that particular exclusive, non government school had a series of accidents where a third of its students were injured.

Mr Kaye admits there were some public schools that had similar rates of students accessing disability provisions, but he says those schools had many students with special needs.

"When you look at the list of wealthy private schools that are getting more than 20 per cent of their students with special provisions, none of those schools advertise on their website they have any interest in special needs students.

"It's very clear that there are schools trying to use the system to advantage their students unfairly."

State opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald believes more students in government schools would claim disability provisions if they had better support.

"This support may include occupational therapists, speech therapists, psychiatrists or paediatricians," he said.

"The family can't pay for this help and so the government needs to step up to the plate and provide the assessments that are needed so these children get the care that they deserve."

Topics: secondary-schools, nsw