Prime Minister Tony Abbott has visited the best indigenous classrooms he's ever seen and says it's partly to do with the region's strong Christian faith.
But the Northern Peninsula Area mayor Bernard Charlie says there's much more to do, including lifting the standard of the curriculum so students can match mainstream levels.
The mayor also says school attendance could be better.
Mr Abbott turned the focus of his remote Queensland visit to education on Wednesday, touring the campuses of the Northern Peninsula Area State College, where school attendance hovers around 70 per cent.
The attendance on the north-most tip of Queensland is higher than in many other remote indigenous communities.
But Mr Charlie says it's not just getting kids to school that's important, but teaching them well while they're there.
Mr Abbott said he'd travelled to several remote indigenous schools but the junior school classrooms he visited on Wednesday were the best he'd seen.
He attributes that to a strong social fabric, cohesion between clans and a strong Christian faith.
"I'm not saying that (a strong faith) is the prerequisite of strong societies but it certainly can be an influence," he told reporters at the Bamaga campus.
The region's three schools host 600 children from five communities.
Head of the senior campus Venitta King said school attendance was still a significant problem.
She wants to see school holidays restructured to give kids a longer winter break and less time off in the summer, when the roads are closed due to flooding.
The prime minister kicked off the day by helping local truancy officers round up kids on the bus and deliver them to their classrooms.
There are 19 officers in the NPA "purple army" who are employed from within each of the five communities and led by coordinator Robert Tamwoy.
They provide transport and breakfast for those who haven't been fed in the morning and engage with the local communities to communicate any problems back to the school.
Mr Tamwoy, who is clearly popular with students, says since May last year he's seen attendance rising.
"Basically there's no limits to what we'll do to bring kids to school," he told AAP.
He attributes the program's success to the focus on hiring local people from within each community.
"We're local people, doing local things in our community. If they come from outside they don't really understand the cultural context."
Mr Abbott is honouring a promise to spend a week each year in a remote indigenous community.
He was joined by Social Services Minister Scott Morrison and assistant education minister Simon Birmingham.
Mr Morrison stressed the importance of early childhood education, promising to focus on indigenous communities in the government's jobs and families package and childcare safety net.
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