Melbourne’s Thornbury High School launched the campaign following cuts to a literacy and numeracy program that had achieved positive results for the school's 52 Indigenous pupils.
The school has the largest number of indigenous students in Melbourne secondary schools and its principal, Peter Egeberg, said the axed program is vital to his students.
“We've noticed with our assessment of the program, there's been a significant rise in the kid's English and maths results and also an improvement in their confidence and self-esteem,” he said.
Mr Egeberg said the local Koori community was frustrated with the cuts.
Parent Stacey Brown said she also had concerns.
“These tutors keep our kids motivated and focussed and make them achieve to the highest they can be, not just to get their assignment tasks done but to actually aim and achieve high,” she said.
“It’s very concerning as a parent knowing that this program is going to come to an end.”
Indigenous Project Officer Guy Neaves said his focus with the crowdsourcing was on the students, not the jobs.
“The issue is, it's for the future of the kids of Thornbury,” he said.
“It's for the future education of Indigenous youth.”
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