Never A Thought

Another attack on the education system made the news this evening.  This one is flying under the radar.
The government plans to discontinue residential schools.  There are, as I understand it, four left at the moment, and next year there will be none.  The rationale is that it is cheaper* to provide "wrap around care" in the community.
Discussing this with someone directly involved in the front line services a few weeks back I came to understand the folly of the idea to close these schools.
Essentially, the schools provide an environment where their pupil's lives can often be turned around relatively rapidly, reducing or eliminating the need for long-term or a lifetime of government support.  Whereas the "wrap-around care" proposal nurses the children through to the point that they can go on a benefit.
In other words, while the residential care system has higher costs up front, over the lifetime of the pupil the costs are lower, and then there's the added benefit, intangible though they are, of a better life for the pupils.

*cheap, the word that fits so well with another word that is appropriate for this government's approach to everything, the word nasty.  National, bringing you cheap and nasty policy since 2008.

King Loser - Sonic Super Free Hi-Fi, 1994