A CRY FROM THE SCHOOLS

Evening Star, Issue 16625, 7 January 1918, Page 3

A CRY FROM THE SCHOOLS

APPEAL FOR BETTER CONDITIONS. At the conference* of this New Zealand Educational Institute* at Wellington on Wednesday, Mr A. N. Burns, M A iWelmoved: " Thnt the institute .should endeavor to impress upon the public and tho Gove.-inient the great importance of providing impiovet! edneational facilities, and that the (Jov»rrinient be urged during 1918 to jii-ovj-ia adequate funds for school playgrounds, r, sufficient number of iris9o?t-" ,; '3 to enable tho work of advising and assisting teachers to be satisfactorily carried out, medical inspection, free denial treatment for children of the public schools, technical school buildings, compulsory continuation classes, conveyance of children to central schools, additional staffing, and a Workers' Educational Association." Mr Burns said that he considered the above remit the most important of those that were before the conference. He said that while the institute could get minor concessions from tho authorities they had difficulty in getting anything that meant an increased vote. ■ Now was tho time to bring before Parliament and the public the need for a larger vote. Many schools at present were overcrowded, and the education boards were crying out for greater expenditure upon school buildings. Better proviuiou for ventilation and heating was A Minister had recently talked <<s £ building erected in the Cook Islands, it was considered to be an ideal edifice for education in the tropics. Was there in Now Zealand one school that could bo pointed to as ideal? Better drinking fountains, and better desks were among tho things needed. A school playground should bo e, -g&&» so well laid out that the child*S£s ®Ould take a pride .in it, and so tSSSSI to public property. There wore 'ssßr inspectors at present, and they t&|S Bo time to study—no timo to do anytLssng but travel, inspect schools, and do office work. A delegate inquired what practical steps the instituto wore going to take to get their recommendations carried out. Tho secretary said that the executive was practically asking the conference for authority to conduct a Dominion-wide agitatiou in favor of enlargement and reform of education. It was proposed to put before every public body the desires and aims of tho institute, in an endeavor to enlist such public sympathy as would compel the Government to take action. Miss Myers, speaking to the remit, said that the schools were teaching hygiene under conditions that were not hygienic. A great deal of money had to be spent upon remedying evils which were tho result of the conditions under which children were being educated. Would not money be better speut upon prevention of the evils? Tho teachers were ashamed of being unable to set an example to tho children in the very matters that were brought under tho children's notices as important. The money for the needed reforms must be in the country. Another delegate suggested something in the nature of a "strike-for better conditions." The Council of Education, he said, should threaten to resign if funds for necessary improvements wero not granted. 3)ho;Semiit.wa3iTcasEifi<L