SCHOOL NEEDS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 250, 16 July 1920, Page 9

SCHOOL NEEDS

THE COMMITTEE'S DEMANDS

. HEAVY COSTS INVOLVED ' • .Tho wants of 6chool committees were laid-before tho Prime Minister and tho Minister of Education yesterday :by a deputation from .tho Associated Sthool Committees of New Zoaland. This bedy has- been sitting in conference in Wellington' recently, and the main purpose, of the deputation was to put'before tho Minister the remit of the conference. Mr. Massoy, in reply, eaid that he had : becn glad to hear tho requests of . the deputation, and assured the representa- • tires present that Cabinet realised the value of' the work being dona by school comthroughout New Zealand. Most nf them understood that the country had many requirements in the way of education, but'unfortunately so far ns 'he was concerned ho happened to bo . Minister of' Finance. ■ Every member of. ■the Government was hwaro of the scarcity.of teachers, and of the inadequacy nnd lid condition of many of'the school buildings'in different parts of the conn•try. Tnero were school buildings in vso which: were' not worthy of education or 'of the' country, and they would havo to be replnced by something better as soon as this could bo done—as soon as money and material could be made available. Tho present Minister of Education was enthusiastic in'the c-auso of education. Mr. Parr had 'been making heavy calls on the Treasury 6inco he, had taken ofiice, and while the Govern-, raent wished to give everything possible 'to - provide for the. needs of education, it did seem that 'soon some of the demands of the Minister.might hove to 1-e turned down.

The Education Vote. A member' of the deputation had ■ nsked-that tho education vote should bo held at threo millions per year for a time at least,. He (Mr. Massey) thought that the amount was already threo millions. " He had that morning asked tho Treasury for a return as to the expeiiditure on- education in years, ■ and this return he tad .before him. It. fjhowed .that in th» jear, 1911-12 there had been spent on education, Unoluding the amounts spent from the Public Works Fluid, X 1,214,327, and in 1919-20 the amount hud,increased to v i!2,43G,878.. i The period was not a very long one, I 'hut the figures ho had given showed that in . that.. tlmo the. expenditure had as nearly as possible doubled, and lie thought that even the educationist could not ask for much faster progress than..this. The suggestion had been made that the capitation of school committees. should bo ini creased. In 1914 tho expenditure under I this head had been ..-£'48,000, and last •! year, it had been - JE80,000,, and although lie waa. Finance Minister he thought it must still be increased. A voice: The purchasing power has gone down sinoe then. (Mr. Massey: Unfortunately that does not affect me aa Finance Minister. It is truo that the purchasing power of money has gone downi but that is felt by the taxpayers also: - He urged that the faets he had just stated showed'that the Government had endeavoured to do- everything possible for education. As to details of the requests, he would leave those to Mr. Parr, who, as Minister of' Education,"would be bringing down legislation to deal with some of them in .the course of,the year.'- He could-as-sure the deputation that Mr.Parr, when he made hia proposals to Cabinet would have a most sympathetic audience.-. The only difficulty was the one he had pointed out—that <ji finance. The list of demands of the deputation would, if granted,'. run into several ■ millions. His, own feeling was that he would liko to see. education'free from the primary: school to tho University. (Hear, hear.) He appreciated the good, work of the school committees, and' assured them of every encouragement tho Government could offer. ■ v . ''

v > How,. Money.; b Spent., ( Mr. 'PatT said'that, the inostVimportant of the 'concerns of the members of school committees had to do with finance. It was ; suggested that a. further gi'ant should be mafte. He had already had a talk with Mr. Masey. on thisque6tion, riid it might be that this year there would be'a moderate increase made: in the .amount of tho grant.; But it w necossaTy that the' Department should know i exactly how the money provided had been expended. They had asked for and obtained a number of schools, and these accounts showed that in the smaller and 1 medium-sized schools the amounts provided had proved to be'sufficient, while in tho larger schools the sums had been fully expended;: .Also there were items in the expenditure'lists supplied which seemed to him to require explanation. .He was satisfied; however, that there was ju'stifiention for some increase ,iri the grant, and. ho would; back the«application in that direction. ' , ■ As to the request mndo for free school books, the'fact'wns that iat one timo thore had been such a system in operation in New Zealand, and .it had' boen nbandoned because the. parent of' the children would not 6tand for.' it. They demanded that their children should have new books in-,every year, instead of old books handed over from other children. - He had a great deal of sympathy with the children and the parents in ■ this matter. The deputation must not run away with tho idea that nothing was being done for the assistance of needy parents in tho provision of school books. A parent who could not afford to buy books could make application for them to tho headmaster, and funds were pro. vided for tho free gift of 6uch books in these cases. He was much in favour of a system of standardisation of school books'. ■" , , i Referring to the demand for tho building of assembly halls in all the new schools in future, Mr. Parr said that he quite agreed that an assembly hall was a desirable feature in every school, but to provide them for all schools would_ cost not less than' three-quarters of a million, and while there was still a lack of classrooms. lie' could not recommend such a large expenditure on this purpose. . Possibly at - somo later period, when tho cost of building was not so heavy, more might be done. .. He had already made many deihands of Mr. Massey for very large sums for the building of .primary; schools, ; and he feared that he would havo to make other demands, next week. Ho could not ask for assembly halls.at + he present time.

Supply' of Teachers, He sympathised' with-the complaint about the shortage of teachers and tho size of classes.,. If the plans of the Department .were successful, thesq evils would be remedied. The Department was... making strenuous' efforts' to _ attract m(?re young people into tho teaching profession, ana miich would depend on the Minister of Finance—whether they would bo able to. increaso the emoluments of the profession to make it attractive to young people. It was hoped that very many more than the usual number' of young people would be induced to enter ihe profession next year, ■ and the plan was to givo 'theso young people a measure of training in model schools in tho centres,-under tho control of experienced headmasters, speoially detached for this duty. If tho schemo proved' to bo successful, tho evila of largo classes and inadequate staffing would be removed. Ho had been pleaded to hoar of tho desire of '.he committees that the school age should be. increased. He would probably bring before tho Government proposals for this either during tho present session or (luring next session.