Kindergarten 'for rich’

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 11

Kindergarten 'for rich’

The New Zealand preschool service favours the comfortably well-off and discriminates against those families who could not take advantage of pre-school facilities, according to Mrs Whetu Tirikatene-Suliivan, member of Parliament for Southern Maori, speaking at the opening of the Wainoni Road Kindergarten. “We must get away from a system which means that a New Zealand child’s educational chances depend on the size of its parent's bank balance.” she said. She was opposed to the principle of “rationing by price." This meant that areas which could afford Kindergaretens. got them: those which could not, did j not. “Those who can afford it have the choice as to

■ whether they take it. Those ;c . others have no choice at all,: r although their need is in-! variably greater. I ' “My personal conviction]' : is that every child in New ' Zealand should have equal!’ ] opportunity to pre-school j; {education. The state has got]* Ito accept responsibility for]’ Jthis.” Mrs Tirikatene-Suliivan] said that she got the clear i impression that the Depart- * ment of Education was more * , concerned about whether 1 • kindergartens were built ac- r cording to their narrow ' building code instead of ; what went on inside. t She said that top priority i should be given to the child- t “ten. There were plenty of t existing buildings which t jcould be used for pre-school a purposes, she said. e “How many halls stand t ’ unused on week-days—sports 1

club halls, church halls, meeting-houses?” “There is no good reason why, when a community wants to provide pre-school services to its children, it should be compelled, by bureaucracy, to first consider the particular building • code prescribed and build a new kindergarten.” It was ironical that the fervour the . community engaged itself in on the rights of the foetus was unmatched on behalf of the born, but rejected, children. “It is important to realise that a community which has a lot of youngsters in it today, may have none in two decades time. What use will buildings, constructed according to a strict code, especially for kindergartens be then?” said Mrs Tirikatene-Suliivan.