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Running on Empty

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

By MATTHEWS, Lee

Skyrocketing petrol prices are forcing residents of one tiny community to pool cars, and raising fears among others that further increases could threaten services such as the visiting kindergarten.

Lee Matthews reports.

LESLEY Ireland--who lives near the northern Manawatu settlement of Rewa--says she lives just around the corner, in rural distance terms, but Mary Vennell has a 15-minute drive to get to the once-a- week Mobile Kindergarten session in the hamlet.

Other parents routinely drive for as long as 30 minutes, as some parents do for Mobile Kinder-garten teacher Jan Hornblow's seven other remote rural kindergarten sessions held weekly throughout Manawatu and Rangitikei.

Mrs Hornblow travels 585km a week in a diesel van loaded with teaching resources.

But the travel that is necessary to get children to education and sporting activities--including the kindergarten--is becoming costly.

"Seventy-five dollars to fill up this week, and it wasn't even on empty," Mrs Ireland said.

Mrs Vennell says she car-pools with neighbours to get to Feilding.

Fortunately, the community acquired a minibus several years ago, to take children to the Waituna West School bus pick-up point.

Parents spared twice-daily commutes raised funds for diesel, but increasing fuel prices kept costs climbing.

"We'll just have to watch (the situation) and see what happens," she said. "It's a worry for people who live 20 minutes' and half an hour's drive away from here."

With an election just four weeks away, the mothers had a message for politicians: maintain funding for remote early-childhood education.

"I think it would be quite good for those high-up people to come and spend a day here, and see what the kids get out of it," Mrs Vennell said.

The Mobile Kindergarten service gave so much to children, who would otherwise not have any formal education until they reached school.

Government proposals to provide 20 hours of free teacher-led, community-based early childhood education for pre-schoolers by 2007 would be a dream come true, provided it were affordable to drive children to attend.

Ruahine Kindergarten Association general manager Jerry Tanguay said the Hunterville Mobile Kindergarten is one of only two or three.

Its enthusiastic committee raised funds to pay for diesel and meet operating costs.

Mr Tanguay said fuel costs are unlikely to affect the mobile kindergarten at this stage, but could become an issue for individual parents.

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Source: Evening Standard; Palmerston North, New Zealand

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