Amendment Bill On School Expulsions

Press, Volume C, Issue 29557, 5 July 1961, Page 16

Amendment Bill On School Expulsions

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 4. A conflict between the law relating to the suspension or expulsion of school pupils from their schools, and the requirement of th> law that a child shall continue at school until the age of 15, is resolved by an Education Amendment Bill introduced in the House of Representatives today. The existing law gives the right to “the teacher of any school" to suspend any child for "want of cleanliness, or who is likely to communicate contagious disease or who from gross misconduct or incorrigible disobedience may be considered an injurious or dangerous example to the other scholars, or whose attendance is likely, for any serious cause, to have a detri. mental effect mon himself or on other scholars ”

Investigation The appropriate education board must then investigate the matter and either reinstate the child or expel him

These provisions are amplified in the bill and it makes specific provision for the enlistment of the services of the senior inspector of primary schools or the senior inspector of post-primary schools, as appropriate, in making arrangements for the continued education of pupils under 15 who have been suspended.

Instead of “the teaener of any school,” the headmaster or principal of a public school is invested with the power of suspension, and he may not impose a suspension of more than one week on a child under 15 Notification The appropriate senior inspector must be notified if the suspension period is lengthened by an education

board or the school’s governing body. Efforts must then be made by the senior inspector to have the child re-established in some suitable school, but if such efforts are unsuccessful and the pupil has reached the age of 14 and has completed form II work, he maybe exempted from further schooling. In the case of a child over 15. an education board may order expulsion. Special provision is made for children suspended for want of cleanliness or who are likely to spread contagious disease In such cases the education board or governing body of the school may forbid the child’s attendance until the cause of the complaint has been remedied Discussion On Line Closing (HZ a ssoctaKon J NEW PLYMOUTH, July 4. The Government’s intention to close the branch railway line between Raetihi and Ohakune Junction will be discussed at Raetihi on Thursday by the General Manager of Railways (Mr A T. Gandell). He will meet a wide representation of interests io the district. i