The Wire

The Northern Territory Education Department is failing in its attempt to have Territory schools in remote indigenous communities teach most of their classes in English. The department introduced the changes this year in response to poor results from indigenous children in remote communities in literacy tests. Resistance to the classes in English at some schools has forced the department to declare 2009 a transition period for the policy, with full implementation to come in 2010. Regardless of whether the policy is adhered to across the Northern Territory, the benefits of the system in its current state remain questionable.