Greek day schools and private schools are getting better value under the Government’s school stimulus program than many public schools due to their ability to self manage their building projects and tailor them to their needs.
Four Greek independent schools Neos Kosmos spoke to reported little or no problems under the Federal Government’s Building Education Revolution (BER).
“I don’t believe government schools have had the same input in their applications,” said business manager Manuel Pappos of Alphington Grammar in Oakleigh.
His comments come amidst allegations of rorting and wastage under the $16.2 billion scheme.
Alphington Grammar was granted $2 million for the building of four primary school classrooms, a common area, and an underground car park.
Pappos said that the school had the flexibility to put the funds towards stage two of the project.
This comprised of a two storey building with an additional four classrooms and an extra common area.
“This meant that the school was able to save a lot of money by doing the project all as one,” he said.
Pappos says Alphington Grammar had not experienced any issues and was pleased with the work of their chosen architect, Hayball.
Community operations manager of Oakleigh Greek Orthodox College (OGOC), Peter Andrinopoulos, conceded that the ability to influence the BER funding meant that independent schools were able to achieve a better outcome.
“As an independent school, we had control over which builder we used…They pre-designed a lot of buildings for public schools whereas with us, it’s an individual design built specifically for our school,” he said.
OGOC was granted $2 million for the extension of their early learning centre, and for the refurbishment of the primary school and hall.
Still in its infancy, Andrinopoulos added there were little hiccups in the building process thus far, and overall he was pleased the funding had brought forward the school’s long-term infrastructure plans.
Saint Spyridon College principal, Nick Papageorgiou said the BER was one of the smartest investments by government in the local community, education and infrastructure in the last 30 years.
“There’s a real shortage of places for local groups to meet so the building of a community multipurpose hall has created a real excitement within the local community,” he said.
“For $850,000 we are building a multipurpose hall, a library, and four classrooms so we are very happy with the value for money.
“In terms of efficiency generally speaking, the independent schools sector is getting much more value out of their dollar as we are managing projects and therefore trying to squeeze every bit of value out of every single dollar.»
Papageorgiou said he experienced only minor issues with the process, such as difficulty in obtaining cost competitiveness in prices last year, and a delay in the formal process of certification.
Already half way through the construction process, the new infrastructure is expected to be completed in December this year.
All Saints Grammar in NSW expects the completion of his school’s $2.5 million BER funded multipurpose hall the following month in January.
“Without the BER, there is no way our school would have had the capabilities in the near future to ever construct a facility such as this,” said All Saints Grammar principal Anthony Tsoutsa.
Victorian Member for Bulleen, Nicholas Kotsiras, also a member of the BER Victorian parliamentary inquiry said that public schools were disadvantaged under the BER.
He underscored that some public schools paid a higher rate than independent schools to build similar infrastructure.
“The government had one size fits all, which made it very hard for schools to go out and get the best price,” he said.
“The independent schools were free to decide how to use the money, a lot of the public schools were forced because of the time constraints to build buildings they might not require.
Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott this week emerged with a plan to enable principals greater management over their building projects and redirect funding directly into schools.
Education Minister Simon Crean described the Opposition’s plan as a “hollow promise” that would “risk billions in litigation”, with 97 per cent of all projects started and their design already completed.
Angelo Gavrielatos, the President of the Australian Education Union, expressed regret that the Federal Government “missed the opportuinity to better target resources to schools which had a demonstrative need”.
He said that all the schools seem to be securing the same ammount of money per capita, regardless of the fact that some schools have lavish facilities and more resources.
Mr Gavrielatos, was happy with the overall BER level of investment as it was «the biggest investment the government has made in education in many years» but added more could have been done in its implementation and evaluation.