面对私立学校一路飞涨的费用，澳洲家长们再也按捺不住了。他们抱怨说自己不得不让孩子进入私立学校学习，但是他们却无力支付私校昂贵的费用。

被迫进入私立学校？！

过去20年里，墨尔本和悉尼对学校投资不足，导致现在城市内郊陷入教育危机——越来越多的孩子到了上学年龄，但是却没有足够的教室容纳他们。 如果孩子们到公立学校读书，那每天通勤就需要近一个小时的时间。

因此家长们不得不送孩子到私立学校读书，但是私立学校不断上涨的费用让他们的经济状况达到了崩溃边缘。

平面设计师Skye Molyneux对《澳洲人报》说：“政府所依赖的状况是每个家庭只有一到两个孩子并且能支付得起私立学校的费用，但是这在费用比较合理的时代才行得通。现在状况已经完全不同了。”

Skye Molyneux是两个男孩的母亲，她花了五年多时间在悉尼市中心为孩子们寻找一所新的高中，因为这些年来她不得不让两个儿子进入私立学校学习，否则就要每天花费40分钟，换乘两次公车才能让孩子到达离家最近的位于西部海港Balmain的公立高中。

“我住在Redfern，孩子们的父亲在Rockdale东部，我们需要这样一所公校，能让孩子们跟我和丈夫在一起。但是这些学校的位置要对我们这些家庭来说比较便利可行，然而现在我们却没有任何选择。”她说道。

悉尼和墨尔本面临着最严重的危机据Grattan Institute报道，更多的学校需要在全国范围内建立，但是悉尼和墨尔本市中心面临着最严重的危机。自2006年以来，墨尔本和悉尼这两座城市便迎来了婴儿潮，这意味着现在到达学龄的孩童数量一直在飞涨，学校建设已经跟不上节奏。

而且据预测，未来10年里，居住在维多利亚州政府区域包括Yarra, Maribyrnong和Melbourne的学龄孩童的数量将上涨50%以上。如果不加大学校建设，危机定会越来越严重。

安德鲁斯政府曾在去年10月称市中心要建立一所新的高中，但是家长们认为一所远远不够，需要建立更多的学校。 “有这样一个设想：住在市区公寓里带着较小年龄孩子的父母们，当他们的孩子到了上学年龄后，他们会搬到郊区，但是这种情况并没有发生，所以现在教育系统面对这种情况才会措手不及”，Grattan Institute的主任Peter Goss对《澳洲人报》说。“所以政府最终开始采取行动并计划建立新的学校，但是到这些学校建成的时候，墨尔本和悉尼将会变成更大的城市。这就是我们需要相应的一致性计划的原因”。

据Grattan Institute称，当今年第一波城市婴儿潮的孩童们从小学升入初中的时候，这个问题很可能会达到危机点。“我相信，当家长们真正觉得他们在送孩子进入公立学校这件事上没有选择时，这会成为一个真正的难题，这也是他们中的大多数人所面临的问题，”Goss说道。在接下来10年里，维多利亚州需要建立220多所学校，新州则需要建立至少213所学校，以应对猛烈增长的学生数量。但至于那时危机是否能够完全解除，这还需要时间来检验！

Inner-city kids forced into private schools

Parents have come out swinging at state governments over skyrocketing private school fees, ­arguing a scarcity of inner-city public schools has forced them to enrol children in private schools that are no longer affordable.

Two decades of under-­investment in schools throughout Melbourne and Sydney has pushed the inner suburbs into a schooling crisis, with a growing number of kids approaching school age without new classrooms for them.

Faced with sending their kids to public schools, requiring commutes of close to an hour, parents argue they are being shoehorned into private schools where ­successive fee increases push their finances to breaking point.

“The government is relying on parents only having one or two kids and being able to afford ­private schools, but that was back in the day when fees were more reasonable. Things have changed since then,” graphic designer Skye Molyneux told The Australian.

The mother of two boys spent more than five years lobbying for a new high school in inner Sydney, after she was forced to enrol her sons in a private school or face a 40-minute commute and two bus changes to get them to the closest public high school, in Balmain on the western harbour. “We needed a school in a ­location that facilitated my sons living with me in Redfern and their father in (southern) Rockdale. But these schools need to be in locations that work for families, and at the moment, parents don’t have a choice,” she said.

More than 220 schools need to be built in Victoria and more than 213 in NSW in the next decade for both states to handle the explosion in student numbers, according to a Grattan Institute report. More schools are needed countrywide, but the worst crisis is in the centres of Sydney and Melbourne where a baby boom that has taken hold since 2006 means the numbers of children approaching school age is skyrocketing and school building has not kept pace. The number of school age children living in Melbourne local government areas including Yarra, Maribyrnong and ­Melbourne will jump by more than 50 per cent in the next decade. The Andrews government last October announced a new high school for the inner city, but parents want more.

“There was an assumption that parents living in apartments with small kids would move out to the suburbs as kids got to school, but that’s not happening, and it’s caught the schooling system on the hop,” Grattan Institute director Peter Goss told The Australian.

“And governments are finally getting their act into gear and planning new schooling, but both Melbourne and Sydney will be much bigger cities by the time these schools are built. That’s why we need consistent planning.”

According to the Grattan Institute, the issue will likely reach crisis point this year when the first wave of inner-city baby boomers move from primary to secondary school. “I believe there’s a real problem when parents genuinely feel as if they don’t have a choice in sending their kids to a public school, and that’s what many of them are facing,” Mr Goss said.