HUNDREDS of protesters have shouted down the Northern Territory's education minister at a rally against cuts to education funding.
About 500 teachers, parents, and supporters gathered in front of Darwin's Parliament House on Thursday to protest against the loss of 35 teacher positions.
The NT has the worst educational outcomes in Australia, and despite significant financial investment over the past five years there hasn't been any notable improvement, Education Minister Peter Chandler says.
"We've got to do things differently," he told reporters.
"The budget is not the same as it used to be. We've got to find savings within all departments across government."
Sixty-six extra teachers will be added to teach transition to year two, he says, with the student-teacher ratio there improving from 22:1 to 20:1.
But for middle school students classes will grow from 17 to 20 students per teacher, and from 14 to 18 per teacher in high school.
The minister says the new staffing allocation formula will guarantee teacher allocations for a full year, when previously schools could lose teachers from term to term due to fluctuating enrolments.
Mr Chandler was drowned out by hecklers as he told the rally the cuts would apply next year, but would be put on hold for 2014 pending the recommendations from curriculum and indigenous education reviews.
Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie said if cuts could be deferred to 2014, they could be stopped now.
"Listen to teachers, principals and education experts who, with a singular voice, are saying you don't get better educational outcomes with fewer teachers," she said.
"It does not make sense."
The minister was presented with a bark petition painted by Gatjilayngu (Yalmay) Yunupingu, wife of the deceased Yothu Yindi frontman Dr Yunupingu, the first Aboriginal person in Arnhem Land to get a degree.
Student teacher Chris Green is about to graduate from Charles Darwin University, and told the rally that if the cuts went ahead, many graduates would have no choice but to leave the Territory in search of work.
"Losing a generation of highly talented teachers would be a disgrace, not only for students but for the Territory itself," he said.
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