Breakfast

Keeping children in school has always been a struggle in remote communities in the Northern Territory. In the most remote areas, official attendance rates are about 60 per cent, with only one-third of Year 7 children achieving the national reading benchmark.

Late last month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a plan to link school attendance to welfare; restricting payments to families who don't send their children to school. Over the last few years, a not-for-profit organisation called Red Dust Role Models has also been working hard to keep Indigenous kids in school. The organisation takes sports people and musicians to Indigenous communities all over the Northern Territory to run workshops in local schools.

Madeleine Genner travelled to the Northern Territory with the assistance of 'Red Dust Role Models'.

Further Information

Red Dust Role Models
Nutritionist and Health Educator from the University of Sydney

Reporter

Madeleine Genner

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