EDUCATIONAL AMENITIES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28894, 14 May 1959, Page 22

EDUCATIONAL AMENITIES

Relation To Size Of Schools (New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, May 13. “The federation views with alarm any suggestion that the type iof educational aid or amenity ■ available to schools should be related to the size of the school,’’ Mr H. P. Fowler, of Isla Bank, president of the Dominion Federation of School Committees, said in a statement today. Mr Fowler was commenting on a statement made last week by the treasurer of the Auckland Education Board (Mr R. H. Baker) who said: “I think we shall have to take into consideration a committee’s ability to maintain equipment out of private funds before granting subsidies, as the incidentals account cannot always provide the necessary funds.” School committees and parents provide large sums of money in order that their children may enjoy the advantages of these aids, says Mr Fowler in his statement. If the school is a small one, the parents involved pay the more heavily, he points out. Mr Fowler adds: "I do not believe that it would be the intention of any education board to relate the quality of a child’s education with the size of the school he or she attends. “But this would be the result if the small school was hindered in its efforts to obtain the modern educational aids available, and without question, on subsidy to the large school. “The child and not the size ot the school he or she attends should be the deciding factor. And the child must be protected against any discrimination related to the size of his or her school. “The School Committees’ Federation considers that a list of equipment essential for. our schools should be made available to all schools irrespective of size.”