Increase ‘against wish’

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 9

Increase ‘against wish’

The increase in tertiary fees is at odds with the Government’s expressed wish to see people stay on the education system, says the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers’ Association advisory officer, Mr Phillip Capper. The P.P.T.A. had always recognised the difficulty of developing a fair and equitable policy for funding post-compul-sory education, said Mr Capper. “Nevertheless, in the last few years, the Government has been encouraging young people to further their education and training, and its funding policy should reflect that.

“The fee increase proposal is not equitable in spite of the exemptions and assistance included,” he said.

“It has been shown time after time that funding mechanisms with a degree of means testing, such as that proposed, just do not work. Those whom these sorts of systems are supposed to assist are least able to take advantage of them.”

Mr Capper said the P.P.T.A. believed instead that there should be some form of State-funded entitlement to postcompulsory education for everyone, at least to the age of 19.

“Courses which are general and broad-based in nature should be Statefunded, and course which involve training for specific occupations should be employer-funded.”