Burraga Public School has been closed since it was placed on review by the Department of Education and Training in 2006.

The Department promised it would reopen the school if sufficient numbers of students enrol. However, despite assurances from the community that they have the numbers, nothing has happened.

There has been a school in Burraga since 1882.

Cr Sullivan described the meeting between himself, Burraga community representatives and NSW Education Minister Verity Firth as very positive.

The community representatives put forward their case including projections for future enrolments.

The meeting was told there are a number of Burraga people just starting their families with plans to have at least two or three children each.

“The minister has agreed to look at the matter with urgency as the end of the school year is fast approaching,” Cr Sullivan said.

He said Member for Bathurst Gerard Martin is confident the minister will get back to him with an answer by the end of this week.

Cr Sullivan said the local community should know better than the education department whether or not the community can support a school.

“The local department closed the school on a watching brief,” Cr Sullivan said.

“I say give the school a chance. Open it on a watching brief.

“A bush school is the beating heart of the community.

“If you take that away from the village it will wither and die.

“No-one will move to Burraga if there is no school.”

Cr Sullivan described the Burraga community as very self reliant.

“Burraga, in any definition, is an isolated community. They need a school,” Cr Sullivan said.

“This is not about saving money for the department but about giving that community social justice.

“I am hopeful the people of Burraga will get the outcome they want.

“The minister has assured me it’s a question of doing the right thing for the community,” Cr Sullivan said.

At present parents of school aged children in the village are driving or bussing them many hundreds of miles each week to schools in Bathurst, Black Springs and Oberon.

The cost of petrol is crippling, and the abolition of free school bus travel next year looks set to cause even greater hardship for families already doing it tough.