“That ICPA (Aust) continues to advocate to the Federal Government for geographically isolated pre-compulsory students, who are enrolled in a distance education program, be granted the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Distance Education Allowance.”
Under the current guidelines, part-time distance education students are ineligible for the distance education (DE) component of the AIC Allowance, which means families enrolled in the 4-year-old programme must bear the costs of maintaining and setting up the classroom in that first year of schooling. Early childhood education is a materials/resource heavy time which translates to expensive. This coupled with the costs associated with setting up a classroom for the first time means that many families are under undue financial pressure at an already stressful time in the isolated education journey.
