By Liam Parsons for the Cairns Post.

SCHOOL students in the Far North have improved in 11 out of 20 NAPLAN test areas, while there region’s 11,000 indigenous students enrolled in state schools have continued to lift their performance.

In the nationwide tests, Far Northern Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are improving at a faster rate than non-indigenous students, with NAPLAN results showing promising signs throughout the region.

Meanwhile, teaching indigenous children in their mother tongue would help lift literacy rates and school attendance, a federal parliamentary committee said yesterday.

Read the full article in the Cairns Post.