Integration Act under fire

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 4

Integration Act under fire

Roman Catholic schools that integrate with the State system of education will become elitist, a report issued by the Rationalist Association has said. The report, on the effects of the Integration Act on State education, was issued by Mr D, Miller, national spokesman for the association. He said that pupils attending recently integrated Roman Catholic schools would pay up to S5O a year in school fees. This income, with State funding through integration, would enable these schools to become elitist. “Despite being largely financed by the Government. entry into integrated schools would be largely determined by religious belief.” Mr Miller said. Also, non-Roman Catholic teachers, regardless of experience or ability, would have little chance of being offered positions in Roman Catholic schools that were integrated. A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Education Office in Christchurch (the Rev. G. J. Gay) said that the views of the Rationalist Association showed that it did not understand the philosophy of the Integration Act. Roman Catholic schools, which were only one of the groups of church schools being integrated,

still had to pay all costs for religious education and capital costs. “The attendance dues which the integrated schools will recieve certainly would not make them elitist as the State pays only salaries, running costs and maintenance,” said Father Gray. It was not correct to suggest that non-Roman Catholic teachers would have little chance of being employed in integrated schools. “Nor is it correct to say that children who are nonCatholic would be barred from the integrated schools, though preference would be given to Catholic children because the schools are of the ‘special character’ noted in the act,” Father Gray said.