The Victorian Labor party’s plan to re-introduce technical schools across parts of the state has some merit, but unfortunately south-west Victoria is not part of the vision.
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Opposition Leader Dan Andrews has vowed to revive the technical schools if Labor wins the November election.
Twelve new technical schools would be built, four of them in regional centres.
The $125 million commitment is being sold by Labor as a way of getting young people into work by giving them a head-start on a profession.
The proposal has met with a mixed reaction.
Former Labor premier Joan Kirner abolished the technical school system in Victoria in 1989 by amalgamating them with high schools.
There have been rumblings on both sides of politics ever since about the wisdom of that decision.
There is a deep-seated regard for technical schools in the community, with voters believing that they genuinely provided kids with a real pathway to a trade when they were operational.
A big complaint since their demise has been that there aren’t enough tradespeople to go around and that’s why plumbers and electricians are so expensive.
It’s a somewhat simplistic analysis but in 2014, against a backdrop of rising youth unemployment and low educational aspiration in regional centres, the revival of the technical school might well prove to be a winner for Mr Andrews and his team.
It should come as no surprise that while this is a reasonably good policy idea, it comes with a level of political opportunism.
Three of the proposed technical schools will be in marginal seats in Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.
As a result, we will miss out in the south-west and that is a travesty.
Of all the regional centres across the state, ours is suffering some of the biggest challenges with youth unemployment at record levels and year 12 attainment rates alarmingly low.
