Pupils erect shelters from ‘poor’ material

Press, 21 October 1987, Page 4

Pupils erect shelters from ‘poor’ material

By CORAL BROADBENT Pupils at a number of Christchurch intermediate schools have recently experienced some of the difficulties of being a poor person in a Third World country. The Canterbury branch of the United Nations Association has promoted a project which involves pupils in building shelters. The project marks the United Nations Year of Shelter for the Homeless. 'The shelters the school pupils built had to be' made from minimal materials such as cardboard boxes, unwanted pieces of corrugated iron and strips of plastic. Pupils from the Cathedral Grammer School, St Andrew’s College (Intermediate Department), and Manning, 'Shirley and Branston Intermediate Schools have all taken

part in the project Single shelters were built in all the schools except St Andrew’s College, where several shelters have been erected. Mr Jeff Burgess, headmaster of the St Andrew’s College Preparatory School, said the response from the boys had been “staggering.” It was making the pupils “more aware of what people in many other countries have to put up with and it is Improving their skills as co-operative builders with ‘found’ materials.” Mr Burgess felt the project was an ideal one for Form I and II Social Studies pupils studying the theme of Cultural Difference and Interaction. Members of the Canterbury branch of the United Nations Association viewed the completed shelters yesterday.