FREE KINDERCARTENS.

Evening Star, Issue 23377, 21 September 1939, Page 10

FREE KINDERCARTENS.

It is a truism, but one that cannot be stressed too often, that the work of training little children is of national importance. The child is father of the man, and his early training has much to do with shaping his career and determining his value to the community. Dunedin was tho first centre in New Zealand to open free kindergartens, and the Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association, through a number of trials and tribulations in the course of its fifty yearn’ history, has kept steadily in view tho ideals of those pioneers whoso forethought has given valuable early training to thousands of children. To-day there are over 300 of them in the six large schools controlled by the association, and they receive the best efforts of seven highly-trained teachers and eight assistants. Not only do the youngsters learn to play and work together in harmony, but they also learn to help one another and to take much pleasure in doing so. Than this there can be no better start jn life’s journey. The greater the number of little citizens who are given such a foundation on which to build their character the more chance there is of tho world becoming a better and a cleaner place in which to live. The work of tho association has spread far beyond the central region of the first kindergarten until many suburban itreas are now included within tho group. Activities of this kind must be given every encouragement to grow. At tho moment finance does not permit the authorities to carry out tho full programme visualised for the district, but it is hoped that, with further public assistance, those people so earnestly directing operations will be able to develop successfully the good work of the pioneers of 1889. Tho association has always followed methods of strict economy, but, as is stated in a short history of the work published in conjunction with the annual report, the necessity of maintaining staff and buildings, as well as providing equipment, is proving a strain on the finances at its disposal. To-morrow there will bo a “ street day ” in aid of the funds for this work. During a war period it becomes more desirable than ever that the work should go on, and, though current hostilities have opened other avenues for the charity of the public, this is one exceptionally deserving cause that cannot be overlooked.