SCHOOLS CLOSE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30482, 2 July 1964, Page 3

SCHOOLS CLOSE

Fees Not Paid /Special Crspdt. N.Z.P.A.) APIA, July 1. School rolls throughout Western Samoa have been drastically cut and some schools closed as a result of non-payment of school fees when the time limit ended on Friday. At Aana District School almost 200 pupils have been refused admission into classrooms they and their families helped to build. The New Zealand aid headmaster at the school, "Mr Joseph Brown, said that as a result of non-payment, pupils from 11 classes were barred from school.

“I am sympathetic with parents’ pleas but I have to abide by the law and refuse admittance to those pupils who have not paid their fees,” he said. New Zealand and Samoan teachers at Aana have volunteered to take school lessons after hours to prevent disruption of school organisation and pupils’ education. The Director of Education (Mr C. J. Williams) said the department, had received instructions to close schools where no fees had been paid.' “Only the assembly can change the regulations. It will be interesting to see what they do,” he said. To meet the emergency, the Cabinet decided this morning to extend the time limit for payment for one more week.

Fees range from 10s to £l5 a term. *

One Apia parent wrote to the weekly Samoan complaining he had to pay out £45. The average labourer earns 10s to 12s a day.