SCHOOL VISITING IN RAROTONGA

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21464, 4 May 1935, Page 15

SCHOOL VISITING IN RAROTONGA

Education in Cook Islands J DOMINION'S OBLIGATIONS {sSPSUIALLT IVaITTEK COS IJBE fI!»S6.) (By R. K. PALMER.) XXII. At most of the- islands of the Cook Group a school holiday was declared as scon as the Matai came in sight. When a ship is seen only once a month or once a year education can well spare a day off for such a big event. But Rarotonga is sophisticated, ships are common there, and so we were able to see a Cock Island school at work. Our guide was Mr A. Mackenzie, Director of Education in the group, an enthusiast if ever there was one. He apologised for the state of the playgrounds. "Things are still in a bit Ji a mess here," ) said. "We haven't hnishea cleaning up after the hurricane yet." Certainly there were a few uoys al work <„n the boundaries of the ground moving rubbish and repairing uie badly aainag'ca gardens, out the general condition ul the ground woulJT not nave caue.i iur criticism nact it been a country scuooi-grouno. in New Zealand, me buildings were separated from one another, one or two class-rooms in each. We went into a room where a husky young Maori in white shirt, and shorts was doinfe simple sums on tne blackboard while his class looked on. The moment v.e were inside the door all the children— corresponding in age perhaps to Standard 1. in New Zealand—were on theii feet, and Inere was a chorus of "Good morning, sirs." Mr Mackenzie joked with them for a moment, then called "Stand," and they jumped to their feet. "Sit," and they were down on the instant. Then a series of orders that kept them briskly jumping up and down till one or two got tangled up. This, of course, was simply a lesson in alertness, bu for the younger children it was more than that, for it tested their knowledge of simple English words. The youngsters love that sort of thing and, like youngsters anywhere else, are keen to see one of their number caught. Mr Cotton, who was to be the new headmaster al Aitutaki. was the third member of the party, and he was particularly anxious to see how teaching methods and the mentality of the youngsters compared with the standards in Samoa, where he had been for some years. I wanted to see how soon the children acquired any handiness in using English, so 1. asked Mr Mackenzie if the children could recite. He called for a volunteer. There were several, but an eight-year-pld boy in the front row held his hand highest and looked most anxious, so he was told to go ahead. "Little Boy Blue" The little boy was a Marsters, but as brown as any full Polynesian, and his verses might have been chosen by one of his distant cousins in Warwickshire. He bowed, and then told the tale of Little Boy Blue, whose sheep were in the meadow and cows in the corn. Perhaps old William came of stage stock; certainly the youngster was every bit of him an actor. Never before have the verses been said with such a lavish accompaniment of gesture.

A classroom or two further on were still smaller children, and here we found a small gir], .perhaps six years old. who was ready to sing. She, too. stepped out in front, bowed politely, and then . sang us a native song in the softest and most musical of island voices. The natives, particularly the girls, love music. As we walked down one side of a building we could hear half a dozen voices singing softly. This was no native air, but, surprisingly, "Auld Lang Syne." We walked round the corner, and found a class of much older girls learning to weave hats, singing as they worked. " The value of native handicrafts is realised, and the schools do everything they can within the fairly narrow limits of the syllabus to see that these are preserved. The boys learn something about woodwork, and more about the sort cl' agriculture in which they will engage after they leave school. The art of canoe-making is in danger of being lost in the more civilised islands, and at one of the Rarotongan schools, Mr Mackenzie told us, a skilled craftsman bad been found to train the boys in it. Scholarship System Some people believe that the syllabus does not provide for as much attention to these subjects, in proportion to formal education, as w r ould be best. The natives are by no means at sea with the normal school subjects, however. They like being taught, and they respond well to teaching. Last

year in Rarotonga two gained proficiency and two competency certificates. Promising pupils such as these have a future as native teachers, as native \ medical practitioners, as surveyors, and iia the administration. Under a scholarship system they are sent to New Zealand for further education, and then specialise. There are at present 11 scholarship boys away from the group being trained for work to which they will return. Three of them arc at the Central Medical School, Fiji, where one will graduate at the end of this year. Seven are at Te I Aute College, two of them specially I selected boys from the outer islands sent in to Rarotonga for a year .or two of, schooling before they were sent on to New Zealand. When these young men return they are not allowed to forget their training and to slip gradually back into careless w< ys. There are special classes for native teachers, and Dr. Ellison keeps a careful eye on the native medical practitioners who do such good work in outer islands. Girls, too, come under the scholarship system. At present there are two in New ZeaUnd. one a probationer at the Napier Hospital, one at Hukarere. Growth of System Although New Zealand promised, when she annexed the islands, to provide free education, it was only in 1915 that a real effort was made to take over the system from the missionaries who had till then been in charge of it, and even now the schools in the northern group, except Palmerrfton, are managed by the London Missionary Society, which receives a Government subsidy of £250 a year—half the sum paid before ''the cuts." Altogether, in the 11 schools in the southern group and the seven in the northern, there are 2500 pupils, with 13 European teachers and 50 Maoris. The cost of the system in 1932 was .£9732. or £3 7s 5d for each child receiving education, The similar cost in New Zeaiuid for the same year wasl £ll 12s Id. The suggestion sometimes made that education in the Cook Islands is costing too much is not borne out by the figures, but they are not, of course, the only or even the, best guide to the value of education. The- sum spent might, quite well be extravagant if the results were poor; but as far as a visitor can see, they are excellent, and might be much better still if a little » more money was available.

Obvious Benefits' It is, of course, convenient that the native should -be able to read and write, since that makes the task of the administration much simpler in many ways, but it might scarcely hn worth while to maintain an education system jus; for that. But from the time the Cook Islands were first dis- , covered it was obvious that life there could not go on as it had gone before. Gradually western civilisation has encroached and is encroaching on them, making necessary more and more profound alterations to the native culture. To meet these alterations, unless they are to be a subject race, the islanders must be educated; and no one realises this more than they do. There is no doubt, according to those most interested, that the schooling they receive has an appreciable effect in increasing the mental alertness of the natives, in fitting them 1o meet their new problems. At the same time as it raises the general mental level, the education system makes it nossible to sort out the best types and to equip them for leading their people in general as well as specialised paths, flic effect, of course, increases with lime. It is reasonable to suppose that in a few years, when the average pupil reaches the standamd attained only by the exceptional ones to-day. ths "outstanding Cook Islander will bo on a level with the great scholars among the Maoris of New Zealand. The theory en which the teachers work is the same as that of the administration generally; that is, to help the native to meet changed conditions with as little disturbance as is possible to his traditional way of life. To put that theory into practice requires intelligence and sympathy, and strangely, considering the general disinclination of-people from temperate climates to go to the tropics, New Zealand has managed to find teachers who have both to send to the Cook Islands.

New Zealand has promised to provide free education in the islands, and it is an obligation on New Zealand that this should be of the most suitable type. It is difficult to discuss this subject without seeming sentimental or hteh-taluting: but this Dominion is in honour bound to do the best she can for these islands, which she was so [ eager to rule, and she cannot do that by economising on education.