Tranby College in Glebe - which for more than half a century has helped adult Aborigines from around the country to ''catch-up'' and get jobs or study - has had $200,000 cut from its funding every year for the past four years, leaving it with nothing to pay the teacher, Anne Ndaba.

Darval McLachlan, 57, spent his childhood working on farms for his uncle and has spent two years finally learning to read and write at Tranby, mainly to help his son Darby get the best medical treatment after suffering terrible injuries in a motorbike accident. ''I have nowhere to go. The door has opened and the door has shut again,'' he said.

The college, whose influential 600-strong ''friends'' group includes the former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop, hit trouble when the previous government legislated to remove its ''special'' indigenous funding.

After a $917,000 deficit in 2008 and with a $450,000 shortfall estimated for last year, the management cut the literacy course, even though 10 people had enrolled.

Two business certificate courses which usually draw about 20 students and have a waiting list have also gone.

Ms Ndaba said the Federal Government's failure to help the college recover from the Howard government cuts was hypocritical and contrary to Labor's social inclusion policy.

Mr McLachlan said fellow students in other literacy courses who were educated migrants had told him he was ''dumb'' and made him feel like an Aboriginal curio.

At Tranby, he could speak ''lingo'' and find like minds. He went to school only in spurts and, as a good sportsman, was encouraged by teachers to play football rather than read and write. Now he speaks with confidence, can fill in forms and read railway sign boards.

''Darval was deprived of an education by our society and now it is happening again,'' Ms Ndaba said.

A former Tranby head teacher, Kevin Cook, said literacy training was the college's ''lifeblood'' for 52 years and gave a leg-up to other courses. ''You see people in their 50s and 60s even learn to read and write,'' he said.

Representatives of the federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, will meet Tranby managers in the next few weeks to discuss the college's long-term financial position, a spokesman said.

The college received $212,128 in federal funding last year, plus $30,000 to review its position, Mr Cook said.

Source: www.smh.com.au/national/education/funding-cuts-hit-aboriginal-literacy-20100121-moai.html