NO APPEALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1942, Page 6

NO APPEALS

BOARD'S ATTITUDE

TEACHERS & DEFENCE SERVICE

A decision to reject the Education Department's proposal that certain classes of teachers should be appealed for when called for home defence service was reached by the Wellington Education Board today. Members of the board expressed the view that while educational "facilities must.be maintained at as high a level as possible, the defence of the country must come first.

The Department's suggestion was that the board should appeal on behalf of head teachers in schools of grade 4 and over. Colonel T. W. McDonald said he was amazed that the Department should ask for teachers to be exempted at the present time. No one had a higher estimate of the loyalty of tlie teachers than he had, and fie believed they would resent such an attempt. It was an attempt to exempt certain head teachers from military service, but if there were any teachers who could go it was the head teachers, because then- assistants could carry on. On the other hand the sole teachers, who had no assistants to carry on, were not to be exempt. The war must come first and to place education before the war effort would be a wrong thing to do. The Teachers' Institute was not a party to the proposal because the teachers, while they wanted education to continue, believed the war should come first. He moved that the board should advise the Department that it could not see its way to adopt the course suggested and appeal for the teachers mentioned. PROPOSAL OPPOSED. They should not entertain the proposal for a moment, Mr. T. K. Moody said, in seconding the motion. The board had declined to appeal for any tcscliGrs ' The chairman (Mr. W. V. Dyer): That was for overseas service. Mr. Moody said the motion was not to apply for the release of any teacher from military service. The war should come first, said Mr. JW. R. Nicol, but education must go on and the drain on specialist teachers had been so great that certain classes could not be secured for vacancies. He agreed with the Department that when such teachers were to be called up for home defence the board should appeal. The same applied to ihe head teachers mentioned, because they?;were in schools where they had to do teach,-.-ing.. They were key men. Mr. A. Donald said the defence of New Zealand was as important as defence overseas and to keep men when they could help defend the country was ridiculous. The specialists in the Forces were training the young men of the country to defend their land. To put the education of children first when the Japanese were practically on our shores was madness. The chairman said he considered they should appeal for science teachers, because there were cases of such teachers doing work that could be done by anyone. He could not see why they should appeal for certain headmasters only. It should be all in or all out. DAY OF APPEALS PAST. Although it was essential that social services should be carried on the day of appeals had passed, said Mr. S. C. Hyndman, who attended the meeting in military uniform. To appeal for a section of teachers would be ridiculous.

Mr. C. H. Nicholls. also supported the motion, which was carried without opposition.