Forbes’ Mary Street TAFE Rural Skills campus looks set to be transferred back to Crown Lands.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A TAFE NSW spokesperson said that in recent years, courses that would have been delivered there were no longer attracting sufficient numbers to offer face-to-face classes.
That’s a big disappointment for two former staff who the Advocate spoke to last week, who find it hard to see the site sit unused.
David Acheson said he wrote to a number of politicians mid-last year to highlight the facilities available at the campus – adjacent to the Newell Highway south of Forbes – and ask if it could be repurposed.
He was disappointed to receive a response this month that the campus was to be sold, its carpentry workshop and other classrooms remaining unused.
“Could not the government repurpose the buildings – for the men’s shed, information centre, Neighborhood Centre, Homework Centre, Language Hub, Training Centre?” he said in an email to Member for Riverina Michael McCormack and Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli.
Former head teacher Des Cowan, one of those who fought to get the campus built, said the campus used to host 112 hours a week teaching time.
This ranged across the rural and construction industries, from woolclassing to scaffolding, power tool use and backhoe operation.
Mr Cowan, now retired, was a teacher at the main TAFE campus when he campaigned for the much-needed dedicated space for courses including the pre-apprenticeship building course that drew students from Parkes, West Wyalong and Condobolin.
Students in this pre-apprenticeship course constructed two homes a year for the Department of Housing in Forbes.
Mr Cowan said the course gave them a year’s advance on an apprenticeship.
“They had a year actual training in the industry,” he said. “When they went to get a job they were useful to an employer.”
A TAFE NSW spokesperson said TAFE “gives consideration to divesting old, outdated buildings and properties that are unsustainable, attract substantial maintenance costs and remain significantly underutilised” as part of ongoing business practice.
“The Forbes Rural Skills Campus was identified through this process,” the spokesperson said.
A TAFE spokesperson said the campus did have a carpentry workshop in a shed, however the equipment is no longer industry standard.
TAFE said there was no distinct date identified where the Mary Street campus would not be used.
“In recent years, courses that would have previously been delivered there were no longer attracting sufficient student numbers to offer viable face-to-face classes,” the spokesperson said.
“This is due to population changes and the different needs of local industry partners and the Forbes community, particularly influenced by local mining enterprises which changed demand for courses at that location.”
The main Forbes TAFE college does offer certificate level courses including civil construction, education support, engineering and TAFE-delivered Vocational Education and Training in automotive, welding, animal studies.
“There is a multipurpose trades workshop at the main Forbes campus that could accommodate carpentry courses if enrolment numbers supported delivery,” the spokesperson said.
“Another option is always the mobile construction trailers that are used to support delivery of carpentry courses across TAFE Western’s footprint, subject to viable course sizes.
“These modern mobile learning units are kitted out with specialist equipment and resources and support the visiting trainer.”
Have your say: letters to the editor renee.powell@fairfaxmedia.com.au or PO Box 124 Forbes NSW 2871
