Education May Cost £120m

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31197, 22 October 1966, Page 1

Education May Cost £120m

Projected capital spending on education in New Zealand during the next five years was £l2O million, the Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella) said yesterday.

He said it was estimated that £5O million would be needed for primary and secondary education, £46 million for university education, £l3 million for teacher training colleges and £ll million for technical institutes.

Mr Kinsella told a gathering at the opening of the Merrin Street Primary School that more than 30 per cent of Ijhe entire New Zealand popu 0

lation was attending some kind of educational establishment.

He predicted that the amount of money required for adult education would increase as more and more people saw the value and importance of furthering their education.

He said New Zealand should welcome this seeking by its citizens for more education and think of the rewards as well as the cost. “Education today is big business indeed,” he said “But in the next few years it is likely to be even greater This is because of the increasing school rolls, and a desire for more education at all levels,” he said. The Minister said the ad-

j vances in technology no lon- - ger permitted people to get by as their parents had done > on a skimpy primary educar tion which usually terminat- - ed at the age of 12 or 13. i He agreed there were “doz- • ens of ways of improving r the education system” but training, qualifications and 1 skills were the first essentials s to be attained in greater quani tities. s He said the Government had given high priority to ? the training of better qualified teachers ’ y the institution of s a three-year training period. This policy had temporarily - put out of circulation 2000 i teachers who otherwise would t be in schools now. The Minister said the Gov- - ernment wanted to reduce the

size of classes to a maximum 35. Already 50 per cent of classes were at this number and 83 per cent were under 40. While increasing the period of training, the Government had made it possible for 4000 teachers to return for refresher courses. Mr M. A. Connelly, member of Parliament for Riccarton, said that 10 years ago the Government was spending £3O million on education. Today the figure was £BO million. Such spending would pay “handsome dividends” for the prosperity of New Zealand. The new school has 246 pupils, including 150 in the infants’ section. Of these, 71 were enrolled this year.