Education cuts seen as short-sighted

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 18

Education cuts seen as short-sighted

Money saved this year by cuts in education spending will soon have to be spent three times over in the costs of punishment, rehabilitation, and social welfare, says the Labour Party’s spokesman on education, Mr C. R. Marshall. Speaking at the Christchurch branch meeting of the Educational Institute, Mr Marshall said that education and social welfare had been the main target for Government cuts. "The education cuts have been the most serious since 1932, in the depths of the Depression,” he said. “Thirty-seven cuts have been made in the State education system this year, and the Government obviously does not intend to make up for them in the near future,” he said. The cuts in education spending were selective rather than universal, and most affected those people already disadvantaged in the system, Mr Marshall said. “Women and ethnic minorities are most badly affected by the cuts, which are reinforcing traditional advantages. “If you are white, middleclass, middle-aged and male, the cuts will not affect you,” said Mr Marshall.

“Those people with money can get access to the best education and the best health services available if they want to. The cuts have ensured that the discrimination built into the education system will become worse.” Mr Marshall said he had been talking to the Christchurch Association of Unemployed Teachers. The mere fact of a need for such an association was a serious comment on present circumstances. he said. “Everyone should have the right to employment, but it is a sad fact that the only growth policy in New Zealand at the moment is unemployment.” he said. In the North Island, education boards were being snowed under by job applications from teachers, at the rate of about 200 for each position available. “The sheer volume of these, plus the projected falling school rolls in the next 15 years, reflects the position. There are not enough jobs now, and there will be fewer in future under present Government policy,” he said. “Unemployed teachers are a ridiculous waste of people who have been trained at the taxpayer's expense for a job that they are keen to do. Most teachers who can’t get

jobs are young, highly motivated, and at their creative peak,” Mr Marshall said.

Instead of sticking rigidly to its ratio limit of one teacher to 31 pupils, the Government should employ some of the teachers now unable to find work and reduce class sizes to half their present size, he said.