Until recent years it was a learning institution second to none, affordable and accessible to all providing high class education in trade and business domains.

No longer is it affordable to all.

My most recent enquiry for a similar course was Riverina Institute Cert 4 $5350, Wodonga Institute Diploma $4000 and University Grad Cert $7000. Previously a Cert 4 course at Riverina would have been in the order of $800.

The quality of delivery is suffering, program hours have been slashed with a big push to online learning representing a cost saving, however some students are not suited to the online environment.

Numeracy and literacy skills present a problem and need addressing throughout a student’s education.

It would be fair to say the teaching staff carry the management burden imposed on them. It seems the current crop of managers are anything but appreciative.

Only 48 per cent of people listed on Riverina Institute’s phone list actually teach, with the next round of redundancies that will be reduced further without a corresponding reduction in management.

The fact that teachers are under programmed has been forced upon them.

A full-time NSW TAFE teacher’s program is 720 teaching hours per annum and 540 incidental hours.

If the teaching duration of a course is slashed, so are the teacher’s hours.

This in itself does not return a cost benefit as teachers are paid for 720 teaching hours regardless if they deliver only say 500 (leaving 220 hours under programme in this example).

The paper cost saving comes in the form of reduced overheads. Funding is provided at a rate per student, per hour they attend. Teachers are costed at in excess of $200/hr and paid about a quarter of that.

The remaining three quarters is consumed in management and administration costs therefore every hour a teacher is not delivering represents a fictional cost saving of $150.

The institute’s cut of commercial funding is now in the order of 45 per cent.

That is the amount taken out before anything is returned to the teaching section.

Currently, there is a practice of teacher cleansing, let’s investigate what they are throwing out with the bathwater.

A trade teacher gaining entry to TAFE is trade tested in many aspects of practical and theory relative to their trade. Many applicants drop out during this period.

Previously the NSW taxpayer funded the university education of TAFE teachers at the Diploma or Degree level.

This investment in education was returned and the usual retention rate for a teacher was 30 years.

The propaganda espoused by the institutes and some politicians are beyond belief, current reforms and the exponential growth of managerial positions if left to run will destroy TAFE as we know it.

This is a con, there are no benefits to students or employers by the changes being made.

ON READING the article, “Left out and alone” (The Daily Advertiser, March 27, 2015) about the Wagga girl who suffers extreme chemical sensitivity.

She is unable to attend high school because of a toxic cleaning agent named formaldehyde, and this worried me considerably. I’d like to inform the people who are using this cleaning agent that they should be using gloves and masks as formaldehyde is a carcinogenic. Please be careful.