Many have already had to flee their war-torn countries to now call Wollongong home.
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But now many of these Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) students fear they will lose another ‘’home away from home’’.
And they are far from happy with the Federal Government’s decision to stop funding TAFE for the AMEP and Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) programs.
Iraqi refugee Shvan Zebari joined about 20 fellow AMEP students who demonstrated their displeasure, at Wollongong TAFE on Thursday.
‘’This sign [placard] says TAFE is home,’’ Mr Zebari told the Mercury. ‘’And that is exactly what TAFE means to me and my family.’’
Other students held placards stating ‘we have support at TAFE. We are happy here’.
‘’Both my wife and I are learning English here,’’ Mr Zebari said.
‘’I want to go on and become a mechanic. TAFE is the best place for me to continue my studies.
‘’I rent a house close to TAFE. A lot of the other students do also.
‘’I’m scared of the changes. It is bad for all of us.’’
The changes Mr Zebari refers to will see private training providers Navitas (AMEP) and MAX solutions (SEE) run courses which TAFE has successfully run for many years.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird understood why students were so disappointed with the government’s decision.
‘’This decision means TAFE is going to lose significant capacity to deliver those courses,’’ Ms Bird said.
‘’To give it to someone who has had no history of delivering in this region. They don’t have classrooms. They don’t have teachers…..you can only assume from that there is some inherent hatred of TAFE in the Turnbull government.’’
Ms Bird, who intends to write to Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, Karen Andrews, said TAFE was in the best position to offer ongoing vocational courses to migrants.
‘’It seems what’s really an effective education outcome is you deliver that [English language courses] and then if they need some more you can roll students into other courses TAFE offers,’’ she said. ‘’The goal is to get them into areas where there is employment opportunity, such as hospitality, retail and aged care.’’