CROWDED PROFESSION

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 42, 19 February 1931, Page 10

CROWDED PROFESSION

STAFFING OF SCHOOLS

MARRIED WOMEN QUESTION

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. A decision to make a further appeal to the Minister of Education to take iminediato steps to give education boards discretionary power to deal with married women employees was made by the Auckland Education Board this morning. The board considered a suggestion by the chairman, Mr. A. Burns, tljat in order.to ease the acute unemployment situation among teachers elderly servants should be appealed to to retire, but no decision to this effect was made. The Education Department in' a memorandum said the Minister had stated that when the Education Act was under amendment he would favourably consider giving boards discretionary power in the matter. A letter was received from the Onehunga School Committee emphatically protesting against the principle of employing married women teachers, and directing attention to the position at the school there, where both husband and wife were employed. Mr. Burns said there wore three married women at the Onehunga institution. A married couple were recently married and had been engaged at the school prior to their marriage. Mr. r. A. Snell urged that the board should press for consideration of the position of married women employees before the time arrived for a revision of the Education Act, The question was one for serious consideration when the country had so many homes receiving two salaries and so many post-matricu-lation students unable to secure employment. It should be dealt with, if possible, at the forthcoming special session of Parliament. Mr. Burns said there were eighteen teachers in the board's service who were near retiring age, and he wondered if it would be any good to appeal to them to retire prematurely in view of the amount of unemployment among teachers.