Record number of Indigenous students graduate but education gap remains

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Figures released exclusively to ABC News show a record 1,934 Indigenous students were awarded a HSC in NSW last year. The deputy principal leading the charge to lift results says cultural connections and mentors are key to replicating the success elsewhere.

Transcript

00:00On Wiradjuri country, Indigenous students inspired by culture and identity are graduating

00:10Year 12 in record numbers.

00:12The river of my country runs deep in my blood.

00:16They're guided by a leader who's overcome a history of exclusion in the classroom.

00:22My mum is alive still today.

00:25She said she always tells a story of the darker you were, the further down the back you were.

00:31So it didn't go on your intelligence, it went on the colour of your skin.

00:35Today, celebrating culture and making Indigenous students welcome is the key to the school's

00:41success.

00:43We still have kids that are coming through that are the first to graduate.

00:47That's uplifting.

00:49That's what you want to hear.

00:50As a cultural captain, I'm passionate about sharing our culture.

00:54Selwyn Kelly has overcome obstacles most teenagers couldn't imagine.

00:59For five years, he's lived in an Aboriginal hostel almost 400 kilometres from his home.

01:05One of ten kids, Selwyn hopes to be just the second in his family to graduate and start

01:11studying to be a teacher.

01:13It makes me feel proud of who I am and where I come from and my role as a leader in the school.

01:21Female cultural captain Kalara Newman also hopes to break new ground.

01:26I want to go into the police force to help Aboriginals within the community, within law.

01:32Obviously a lot of people haven't been treated right, I want to change that.

01:38There's a dire need to replicate this success nationally.

01:43NAPLAN figures show Indigenous students failing at four times the rate of their non-Indigenous

01:47peers and it can be even worse in remote areas where the education gap remains a chasm.

01:55Despite billions being spent on Indigenous education, too many students are missing out.

02:00What it means is that these kids are going to have troubles going beyond year 10.

02:06It limits the kind of futures that they can imagine for themselves.

02:10Can you get some extra spring day?

02:12Back in Dubbo, success is personal for Jenadel Lane.

02:16Her own daughter, Rattori, graduated last year and is following in her footsteps.

02:20I've wanted to be a teacher since I was pretty much a baby but I've watched my mother help guide

02:28people and impact young children, especially Indigenous kids.

02:32Jenadel Lane knows it'd thrill her forebears who were denied an education.

02:37Very proud.

02:38Yeah.

02:39Yeah.

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