Nursing Course For Maori Pupils

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31864, 17 December 1968, Page 12

Nursing Course For Maori Pupils

The Wellington Polytech? nlc will start a one-year course next February for Maori boys and girls who want to qualify for entry into nursing, but who have not obtained School Certificate. The Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan), who announced the course, said the full-time course of 38 weeks would be open for up to 15 Maori girls and boys who had gained 50 per cent or more in at least two School Certificate subjects, and who were seriously interested in attempting the full three-year nursetraining course. Students would have to be at least 16 and be prepared to live at Wellington for one year while doing the Polytechnic course. The costs of accommodation at a suitable hostel and a small weekly allowance would be paid. Mr Hanan said the course would emphasise skills in English and communication and would include training in study skills, a social survey of the New Zealand community, at least two School Certificate subjects for each student, and liberal studies. “This course marks a new stage in Maori education because it gives Maoris a chance to prepare for a programme of training at an advanced level,” he said. “Nursing ha* been chosen for the course because of the community’s continuing need for fully qualified nurses, and because of the keen interest many Maori girls, particularly, take in nursing.

“This is a pilot scheme and there will inevitably be problems of selection. We will accept applications from Maoris anywhere in New Zealand, but we will select finally only after an interview.” Wide support from Interested organisations had been given to the proposed course. Mr Hanan said that the Education Commission of 1962 reported that the nation could not afford to waste any of the ability of the country’s children, and added: “In the Maori pupil lies the greatest reservoir of unused talent in the population.” “We want to tap that reservoir,”’ said Mr Hanan. “The social need for these special measures is urgent, and that is why we are offering this course now.” Conservation As part of its diamond jubilee programme the Scout Association of New Zealand had initiated « national conservation campaign to increase interest and participation by New Zealand youth in conservation of natural resources. To support the display to be staged at the national jamboree in Kaiapoi next month, the association has prepared a booklet entitled “This Precious Land,” edited by John Parsons, which will be mdde available throughout New Zealand. The booklet shows the natural advantages of New Zealand and its open countryside and how these can be destroyed by man.