Principals fear job cuts as pupils stay away

Christchurch Girls High School after the February quake. Photo / Daily Post

Less than half of the 10,000 students who fled Christchurch after the quake have returned to their original schools - leaving principals worried they will be forced to cut staff next year.

More than 10,200 students enrolled at other schools around the country in the weeks after February's devastating 6.3 earthquake. By this week, only 4000 had returned.

Of the 6200 students enrolled elsewhere, 960 are studying at other Christchurch schools, and nearly 900 are in Auckland. Many of these are believed to have permanently moved,

While some principals say students are returning in "dribs and drabs", many fear the majority of those who planned to come back would have done so by now.

There is growing apprehension the drop in student numbers will mean cuts to teacher numbers, which are only guaranteed until the end of this year.

St Mary's School principal David O'Neill said he had 107 students before the earthquake. Today there are 89.

For a small school that drop could equate to losing one teacher - a big blow given the school almost closed eight years ago with only 52 students and two teachers but had worked hard to build up its roll and staff in recent years.

All Christchurch schools are receiving full funding, even if their students have enrolled elsewhere.

Decisions on how long that will continue are yet to be made, but schools are concerned it will end in July when the next roll returns are due.

Mr O'Neill believes his school could lose up to $10,000 - money he would have to replace through careful rebudgeting.

But he is more concerned about staffing levels, which the Ministry of Education has guaranteed to retain only until the end of this year.

"Next year when the figures go through we may lose a teacher at our school. That's what most schools on the eastern side of Christchurch are facing too - staff losses," he said.

"I can cope with the money because I can budget here and there and change things around but losing a teacher means I have to go from a five-teacher school to a four-teacher school."

New Zealand Educational Institute president Ian Leckie said staffing entitlements were based on the previous year's roll, so many schools faced losing teachers if their rolls did not increase in the next few months.

He urged the Government to think long term and retain staff and resources, such as classroom buildings, until at least the end of next year as he believed the rolls would eventually grow again.

Education Minister Anne Tolley said about $20 million had been made available from contingency funding for schools and early childhood services. Relief teachers had also been provided, as had funding to bus about 6000 students to their temporary school sites.

Students from 10 Christchurch schools which remain closed are still being taught in other sites. New supervised study centres were announced yesterday to help those students.

The total cost of school damage is yet to be determined, but Ms Tolley said the ministry had already spent about $3 million on emergency repairs and providing temporary relocated classrooms.