Reduction Of School Cadets To 20,000

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30484, 4 July 1964, Page 1

Reduction Of School Cadets To 20,000

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 3.

The complete reorganisation of the School Cadet Corps was announced today in a joint statement by the Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre) and the Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella).

Under the scheme, the cadet corps will be reduced in size to about 20,000 pupils. This group will eventually be composed of about 13,000 army cadets, 6000 air force cadets and 1000 sea cadets.

Work on the reorganisation is to start at once and it is hoped to have the corps in its new form by the end of 1965. “The reduction to 20,000 will be achieved by putting a greater emphasis on effi-

ciency in, cadet units,” says the statement. “It will be left to the school authorities in each case to decide whether they wish to continue cadets on the new basis and a number of schools may well decide to disband their existing units. After this initial review there will be a careful scrutiny of all units to see which measure up to the new standards of efficiency and enthusiasm, and, if necessary, the least efficient units will be disbanded.”

The reorganisation has been prompted by the realisation that the cadet corps is not operating as effectively as it should, because of the large numbers now involved. With the growth of secondary schools the cadet roll rose from 24,000 in 1948 to a peak of 54.000 in 1962. Most of the instructors are

supplied by the Army, which is itself short of instructional staff. There has been a continuing decline in the number of teachers with service experience available to serve as officers in cadet units.

War-time equipment used by school cadet units is now coming to the end of its useful life and needs replacement if training is to be effective and useful.

“To buy new equipment for the present numbers under present conditions would just not be sensible from an economic viewpoint,” says the statement.

Under the new training syllabus there will be greater emphasis on adventure training, fieldcraft, leadership training and weapon handling, and less time devoted to drill and ceremonial training.