SOME DIFFICULTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 52, 2 March 1934, Page 12

SOME DIFFICULTIES

COLLEGE ATTENDANCES

POSITION AT RONCOTAI

i In regard to the attendance at ] Kongotai College, the principal (.Mr. ■F. Martyii Rentier) reported to the • Board of Governors of the Wellington ■ Colleges at its meeting yesterday that ;he was iv a difficult position. Every • endeavour was being made to find cmi ployinent for pupils at the school, but if the roll of the upper school, which ! was at present slightly below 340, fell ■ below 330, the college would lose the • services of a master. "I know that for many boys the . need of employment is "desperate," i wrote Mr. Heuner, "yet, if I 1 satisfy that need, then I am adding- another : to the ranks ef unemployed teachers. "As it is, the lower or intermediate department of the school is going to .be terribly hard hit this year. This has been brought about by the drastic 1 nature of the new regulations and the open and covert hostility of certain school authorities of the district 'contributing to the seliool population of Eongbtai College. In regard to thefirst reason "three out of six of our teachers receiving a grade 3 salary have either to secure an equivalent position in another school or revert to a grade 2 salary. The ironical part is that no power of transfer is provided iv the case of teachers in the intermediate department attached to a secondary school as is provided for . . . other intermediate schools. "AN IMPOSSIBLE LIMIT." "The regulations set us an impossible limit, even under normal conditions, when a minimum of 201 pupils was fixed for the retention of the intermediate department of our present full staff of six. This year our enrolment in this department was 91 and we fail by "nine to reach the required minimum of 201. The result is that my head of department will have to go or drop: £40 to .£r>o in salary'as in the case of his three colleagues." Mr. Beuner expresses the opinion that the primary schools iv the district have in some cases not facilitated-the entry of hoys to the Rongotai College in order to maintain their own grading. "An impossible situation has arisen," continued Mr. Renner. "The voluntary system of entry has failed. The Minister has the power to introduce a compulsory system by designating certain schools as contributing schools.. Will he do it for the lack of nine boys 3' The; establishment of a homogeneous system of education in the eastern district is an urgent necessity. It can be done, aiid I make this suggestion. Provide mo with four or live more classrooms and these,- with the new laboratories, will enable me to take all the boys from Standard,V upwards. To provide for the girls transform one of the schools near the tunnel into an intermediate school to feed the Wellington Bast Girls' College." THE OTHER COLLEGES. The number of pupils on the roll of the Wellington Boys' College on the opening day of the school was 802, according to the report submitted by the principal, Mr. W. A. Armour. Mr. Armour said it was difficult to give the exact figures a.t present as the number fluctuated from day to day, since some of the boys had already received position?. There were 250 new entrants this year—ten more than last year—and the number of pupils who returned was 551, as against 505 last year. ' ■■'■'.■ The principal of the Wellington Girls' College (Miss V.- M. Greig) reported J that ou .February.-16 the roll number was 479, and the s Wellington East Girls' ' College "-on. the- same "date had an at- , tendance of 417r:uScdrding to Miss A. M. Batham's report. '