NEED FOR MORE TEACHERS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14860, 23 December 1948, Page 5

NEED FOR MORE TEACHERS

APPEAL TO WELLINGTON PUPILS

GIRLS’ COLLEGE PRIZE-QIVING

CEREMONY

‘Tn 1952 there will be 59,000 more children in New Zealand schools than .there were last year, and therefore more teachers are obviously needed,” said the Minister of Education (Mr T. H. McCombs), addressing pupils of Wellington East Girls’ College at the annual prize-giving ceremony. One thousand three hundred teachers were now being trained, compared with 700 two years ago, said Mr McCombs. appealing to those girls who intended to take up teaching to regard it as a profession, not just another job.

‘T ask you girls, particularly those who are leaving school this year, to take an active interest in the affairs of the country,’’ said the Minister. Although New Zealand women had had the vote since the last century, they had so far returned only five women to Parliament, but as they are in the majority, they could elect a whole Parliament of women if they wished. “There are still many discriminations against women which will have to be removed, such as unequal pay for equal work, and you can help to remove them by being active citizens,” Mr McCombs told the girls. “We want our girls to leave school with that spirit of feeling inferior to nobody, especially their employers,” said the principal of the college (Miss N. G. Isaac). Parents and girls sometimes think that their teachers make a fuss about trifles, said Miss Isaac, but they regard that point as one of prime importance.