Australian parents have turned away from public schools during the pandemic, flocking to private schools with higher educational standards and faith-based schools with stronger values and beliefs. Private schools have seen a 6.1 percent increase in enrolments between 2019 and 2021, compared with 2.2 percent for Catholic schools and 1 percent for government schools, according to the annual Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) schools report released on Feb. 23. The most notable shift could be observed in the primary level with free primary schools losing 13,368 students, compared to 12,532 extra enrolments in fee-paying schools. Meanwhile, enrolments soared in both private and state secondary schools, with the private sector taking in 10,000 more new students than the state sector last year. (17,599 extra enrolments compared to 6,980 extra enrolments) But overall, free state schools still held the greatest share of enrolments (65 percent), followed by Catholic schools (19 percent) and independent …