PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 25 May 1932, Page 7

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

“DOTIIEBOYS HALL” RECALLED LONDON DISCLOSURES. LONDON, May 12. Schools recalling Charles Dickens’ “Dotheboys Hall” and conducted in bedrooms, kitchens, basements and converted cellars by aged, bedridden and blind or unqualified teachers arc among the astonishing disclosures of a Government committee. Reporting on conditions in private schools, the committee states that, while there arc many excellent schools and the majority are above serious reproach, a small proportion are harmful to the pupils’ mental and physical welfare. A much larger proportion are seriously weak and inefficient. One school for children aged seven to 14 is conducted in a third-floor room, with grave risk in case of fire. One pupil was certified mentally defective, the teacher is'deaf and the other is wholly unqualified. At another school the principal is blind and the other teacher unqualified. A third school was held in a kitchen, and the 17 children attending it wailed their turns' for seats on an assortment of stools and chairs. A fourth was conducted around the bedside of a bedridden teacher. At a fifth the sole teacher was over 80 years of age.