Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Christchurch pupils require extra support, says union

Updated at 12:44 pm on 22 September 2011

A teachers' union says the Government should give Christchurch schools the same support being offered to three of the city's major tertiary institutions.

Canterbury and Lincoln Universities and the Christchurch Polytechnic are having their funding continued next year as if their enrolments had not fallen.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce says the funding will maintain the institutions' ability to train the thousands of workers needed for Christchurch's recovery.

On Friday, the Government announced that schools would lose funding equivalent to 167 teaching jobs as 3500 school children have left the city.

But the teaching union, the Educational Institute, says remaining pupils have been so traumatised by the earthquakes they now require extra support.

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