Students in the west are skipping school because of challenges they face dealing with public transport, a new study has found.
The joint Young People and Fines Bulk Negotiation project between Victoria University’s Law and Justice College and Sunshine Youth Legal Centre is in its early stages but has raised some alarm bells.
Victoria University clinical programs director Su Robertson said about 140 school students aged 14 to 18 were asked to answer questions about their experiences with public transport and myki fines.
“Some of the students have chosen not to go to school because they don’t have enough money, which is a bit concerning,” Ms Robertson said.
“Sometimes if they get a fine or don’t go to school because they don’t have money, they face violence in the home. It can really blow out of all proportion.”
The law and justice college runs clinics at the Sunshine Youth Legal Centre, with about half its clients being young people seeking help with fines for not having a valid myki or concession card.
In Britain, public transport is free for students travelling to and from school. Ms Robertson said the projects’s organisers hoped Victoria would follow suit. “The big issue we have here is a system that treats both adults and young people the same way,” she said.
“Hitting the hip pocket usually motivates us adults, but it doesn’t motivate kids because they don’t have a hip pocket to hit.
“This project is about researching creative, innovative and positive ways to bring about systemic change … rather than a punitive response. The students don’t have enough money for myki, but they get a fine?”
The project will also focus on the legal system, how it treats young people and what happens when they don’t pay their fines.
Ms Robertson labelled the process as unfair, saying those who paid fines were punished while those who did not seemed to suffer no consequence.
“You ignore a fine, it blows out,” she said. “If you’ve ignored it all the way through and there’s a court order that you must pay X amount, and you still ignore it, nothing much seems to be done. It’s a weird system that punishes people who engage with it.”
