POSITION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXII, Issue 19, 11 March 1941, Page 4

POSITION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS

SERVICE IN E.P.S. ADVISED BY

DIRECTOR

An answer to the question as to whether school teachers should take service in the B.P.S. or the Home Guard has been given by the Director of Education, in a statement published in the current issue of "National Education." It is as follows:

"From time to time education organisations raise the question as to whether school teachers should serve in the Emergency Organisation or the Home Guard. As the matter is definitely linked up with the important question of the protection of school children in an emergency developing during school hours, I would like to express the opinion that as a general rule school-teachers would be rendering the greater service by joining the Emergency Precautions Scheme organisation in their respective districts.

"The question of providing some organised protection for school children during school hours was discussed at a conference of representatives of the principal emergency precautions organisations recently and it was decided to arrange for the inclusion in each organisation of a special committee consisting of a representative of the Education Board and three or four local headmasters whose duty it will be to determine what measures should be adopted at each school to provide maximum protection for the children, particularly in respect of conditions likely to arise from enemy air raid or bombardment. All emergency precautions scheme organisations are being advised accordingly.

| "These committees will be able to determine also which members of school teaching staffs should be attached to the E.P.S. organisation and which could be released for service in the Home Guard if they so desire. However, having regard to the paramount importance of caring for school-children in such circumstances and to the advisability of having such responsibility placed in the hands of the teachers who have the confidence of the children, the departmental view is that, generally speaking, members of the profession should accept service with the E.P.S. I feel sure that this view will appeal to the teachers themselves. They will appreciate the fact that service in this organisation is just as important as service in the Home Guard and that by giving special attention to the safety of the. children in their charge they will create in the minds of the parents a feeling of confidence which is so desirable at

such a time."