Children asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island will attend a learning centre run by the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia.
The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, announced on Friday the signing of a deal to provide full-time education services for detainee children, following long-running concerns about the adequacy of schooling available to young asylum seekers on the island.
The agreement with the Catholic Education Office flows on from the government's decision to allocate $2.6m in last month's budget "to fund access to full-time school education for all school-aged illegal maritime arrivals on Christmas Island".
Morrison said the learning centre at the island's Phosphate Hill Alternative Place of Detention would enrol up to 150 children and provide full-time education for all kindergarten, primary and high school-aged children detained on the island.
The Catholic Education Office was currently recruiting a principal, teachers and teaching assistants, the government’s statement said. The office would deliver services from term three but would not provide religious instruction.
"It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that detainee children within Australian facilities receive full-time schooling, in line with Australian community standards," Morrison said.
“Services under Labor did not allow for detainee children on Christmas Island to attend school on a daily basis, contrary to Australian community standards.
"Arrangements under Labor provided for just 24 primary school-aged children to attend classes. When Labor left office there were 140 primary-aged children on Christmas Island and there are 56 today. Worse still, these inadequate arrangements were due to cease on June 30."
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the children deserved "to be sent to a proper school, to play and learn with local children, and just be kids".
“These children have been waiting too long to now be told they won't get the opportunity to attend a proper school," Hanson-Young said. "It is the government's responsibility to ensure the best educational outcomes for these children and that means allowing them to attend school outside the gates of the detention centre."
Last month's budget papers said education would be "delivered through the local school system under an arrangement with the Western Australian Department of Education". A spokeswoman for Morrison said: "At the time of publication education services were provided by the WA government. The WA government subsequently advised that it was ceasing arrangements and alternate education providers were sought."
In 2012 the Australian Human Rights Commission issued a reporthighlighting the need to improve asylum-seeker children's access to education services on the island.
In November 2013 the president of the Christmas Island council called on the federal government to resolve the housing crisis on the island so children in detention could continue to receive schooling. theguardian.com
