As the price of petrol gets closer to $4 a litre in the major centres amid geopolitical events, the Ministry of Education has acknowledged it has put together a provisional plan for remote learning as a way to help conserve fuel.
Lawrence Area School principal Dave Bagwell said schools were waiting for directions from the Ministry of Education.
"I think we’re probably looking for a bit of direction.
"If it’s a short term, if it’s two or three months, we can probably wear those costs, but I see the government have planned for a year of assistance to low-income. Well, if that’s the sort of scale they’re thinking about, they probably need to be thinking about how do they support everyone else over the term of a year or [until] when the prices come down."
Increasing prices would almost certainly threaten school trips and camps, Mr Bagwell said.
"So it’s a bit of an unknown, but it’s on my mind ... we’re having practical conversations. So, for example, there’s two staff members who live in Roxburgh and travel down every day.
"It’s probably good sense for them to start thinking more seriously about carpooling and that type of thing, but it’s just practical stuff that you would do with fluctuations in prices anyway.
"People keep likening this to Covid. I think it’s the same but different, but in that situation we’ve got very, very clear guidance around what we should be doing."
Ministry of Education group manager operational standards Helen Hurst said fuel security and any associated national planning were led by the MBIE, as the responsible agency, but the ministry was actively monitoring the situation and planning so it could respond if there were changes to current settings.
"It is, however, early days and the current settings haven’t changed. Schools and early learning providers should continue to operate as normal.
"Distance learning is a last resort. We have more options available to respond than we had under Covid-19 restrictions.
"As part of our planning, we are looking at a range of options to support students’ access to learning should this become necessary," Ms Hurst said.
"Right now, we expect students are attending schools and providers as usual.
"We will work with MBIE and the sector as necessary to communicate with schools, early learning and tertiary providers in a co-ordinated and transparent way if the situation changes."
Otago Boys’ High School rector Richard Hall said although the fuel crisis was affecting everyone, it was still to soon for remote learning to be a feature.
"With our hostel families, most of the boys stay in seven days a week. So going backwards and forwards is not really a problem for them.
"We don’t have a specialised ministry bus," Mr Hall said.
"I would think we would have to be noticing large numbers of students not being able to attend school because of the cost of getting to school. And at this stage, we’re not seeing that. If this issue goes on, I’m not sure."
South Otago High School acting principal Rick Gerlofs said fuel prices had become an increasing concern.
"Clearly, the price of fuel is impacting on everybody, not just schools but everybody in the community. And it is certainly making things a wee bit tougher."
