I HAD visited Horsham College at least three times previously in the past, but Tuesday was my first tour of the school as a whole.

I have closely followed the school's fortunes since the Claude Brand Library was razed by fire on Good Friday last year and then the school missed out on funding for vital building works in the State Government's budget.

As the daughter of teachers, I was raised to believe that education is important, but seeing first-hand the circumstances in which Horsham College students learn and teachers teach gave me even greater respect for education, particularly when one is being educated in trying circumstances.

A school environment can greatly influence one's enthusiasm to learn, but in the long run, can also dampen enthusiasm.

Although Horsham College received some excellent VCE results last year, I would suggest that there are also some students who dread going to school in a gradually crumbling ruin.

I saw tiles which had fallen off the facade of buildings, holes in walls, roofs and cupboards, marks on walls and a sub-standard air-conditioning unit.

I saw bowed walls, walked on uneven floors which gave the sensation of being seasick and saw doors and windows which did not and would not close because of ground movement.

I was told the school's canteen was a former RAAF officers' mess moved from Nhill at the end of the Second World War and, in winter, was full of mice.

I also saw water leaking from underneath the locked door of a girl's toilet.

Apparently, because the buildings move so often, the school's water supply is constantly affected.

Many of the buildings on the school site were classed as temporary when they were built or installed, some at least 40 years ago.