The federal government will not renew funding for a homework program for Brimbank children and families at risk of social exclusion, despite acknowledging it has met its performance objectives.
Parents whose children attend the after- school hours and school holidays homework program, called the Five2Twelve Club Project, have received a letter informing them it would be finishing up this month, with the last session to be held on June 22.
The homework sessions have run for two years at the Westvale and West Sunshine community centres as part of the federal government’s Strengthening Communities Program. It was designed to build social cohesion and overcome disadvantage. The Brimbank program was attended mainly by migrants and refugees.
Brimbank council received $300,000 from the Department of Social Services to run the program for two years until June 30 this year.
A departmental spokesman told Star Weekly last week the program was being “redesigned to better align and target funding to Australian government priorities such as building social cohesion and addressing social need”.
When asked whether the Five2Twelve program had been unsuccessful, the spokesperson said: “Data provided to the Department of Social Services by the Brimbank City Council indicates that the program is meeting its performance objectives.”
Fatima Ali Idris, whose four children attend two sessions each week at the West Sunshine Community Centre has started a petition calling on the federal government to recommit to the program.
Ms Idris, who came to Australia from Sudan five years ago, speaks English but she said her reading and writing skills are not at a standard that allows her to help her children with their homework. She said she was shocked when informed the homework program was being terminated.
“Where can we go, we don’t know good English, they helped us with English,” she said.
Ms Idris said many of the children don’t have computers at home, let alone the internet to help them complete their homework.
Brimbank council’s community wellbeing director Kath Brackett said the council was preparing a report evaluating the program that would be handed to the government in October.
She said the program has hosted 347 homework sessions for 6821 students from 21 Brimbank primary schools.
