LOCAL INTEREST NEEDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 96, 24 April 1922, Page 4

LOCAL INTEREST NEEDED.

We would remind parents, of children attending the primary schools that the annual meetings of householders to be held this evening for the election of

school committees, provide the best opportunity of the year for the practical display of local interest in education. Since the tendency in official circles is towards centralisation and still more centralisation, it is more necessary than ever before that this local interest should be fostered, and that parents should show they value the rights given to them of participating in the management of the system. The Educational Institute invites tonight's meetings to express the opinion that expenditure on education should not be stinted. It is to the CTedit of teachers that they have not been clamorous about the reductions in their salaries, and because of their record inthis respect they can speak with all the greater weight on the subject of general expenditure on education. We should not like to say that there must be no diminution of expenditure on education, but the Institute is justified in directing attention to the need for housing children properly and staffing classes adequately. As we have frequently maintained, these are basic needs, and should be met .first. The Minister has furnished .figures designed to show how much the department, has done in the way of building. It may have done a great deal, but the question is how much remains to be done. Hew many schools are there that are dilapidated, over-cfowded, or insanitary? The evil of swollen classes also persists, to the detriment of the teaching in them. The teachers' organisation is right in seeking to interest school' committees in these important matters, and we hope there will be a good response.