Is weekly boarding one answer?

I was roundly told off for this idea yesterday so I am going to put it to those of you who are foolish enough to read this blog.

There are apparently a good many children in remote communities who wag school. They spend their days getting into trouble instead. The youngest sometimes don't get to school because parents don't manage to get them ready to go. Those who are perhaps old enough to get themselves there simply don't want to go.  Various rewards for school attendance have been tried. In at least one community they can use a purpose built swimming pool if they have been at school. That works up to a point.

But there are children for whom even getting to school is an effort. There may be a school bus but who wants to ride in a hot bus to go an do something they don't much like? In some places there is no bus. In the smallest communities school might be one room, at the most two and you are expected to walk there - not far perhaps but any distance can be too great if you don't want to be at school.

And in the remote community I was talking about yesterday, the one on the outskirts of Alice Springs? It is a forty-five minute walk to the bus stop and then the bus. The children simply aren't going to do that. 

So, why not weekly boarding? At school during the week and at home at weekends? Would it work? I put the suggestion forward and was howled down. This was no better than what had occurred under the old "Stolen Generation".  (The alleged forced removal of children in order to provide an education.) 

But would that really be the case? Imagine small group houses where indigenous children were under the care of an indigenous person or persons from Monday to Friday. They would be taken to and from school in the same way as other children. At night someone would be responsible for seeing they were not wandering the community unsupervised. Weekends would be spent at home with family.

No, it is not ideal but is it really such a silly idea? If it ensures the child is at least attending school isn't that desirable? It wouldn't remove a child from family completely and might be welcomed by many parents. The idea that their parents don't care is ridiculous. Of course they care, particularly the mothers. 

If what we are doing now is not working - and in many places it is not - then is there something wrong with trying another approach? It would not be cheap but then having someone on welfare for the rest of their life is not cheap either.