4220.0 - Schools, Australia, Preliminary, 1996  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/01/1997   
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MEDIA RELEASE

January 23, 1997
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
5/97

Schools report over 3.1 million students

Preliminary results from the 1996 National Schools Census show that in August 1996 there were 9,629 schools and over 3.1 million students in Australia.

The figures, published today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, show there were 3,142,933 full-time students. Of these 2,221,475 (70.7 per cent) attended government schools and 921,458 (29.3 percent) attended non-government schools.

There were 143,949 full-time equivalent teaching staff in government schools and 60,070 full-time equivalent teaching staff in non-government schools.

The age participation rate for full-time students was over 92 per cent for 15 year olds and nearly 80 per cent for 16 year olds.

The apparent retention rate of secondary school students to Year 12 fell from 72.2 per cent in 1995 to 71.3 per cent in 1996.

The publication Schools Australia, Preliminary 1996 (cat. no. 4220.0), compiled and published by the ABS, is based on data collected through the National Schools Statistics Collection, which was established through the work of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs Taskforce on School Statistics. Copies are available from ABS bookshops.