NEW SCHOOLS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue XXXXI, 16 June 1920, Page 5

NEW SCHOOLS

POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER.

(BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION ) FOXTON, June 15. The Hon. C. J. Parr, Minister for Education, speaking at - the opening ceremony of a new school this afternoon, emphasised the fact that £700,- i 000 worth of school buildings were ! either in course of construction or else ; authorised by the Department. About £300,000 worth had, however," not yet been begun by education boards, and '■ this was due to a shortage of labor, and more especially to a severe short- ' age of materials. i

The new regulation, under which only essential buildings would be permitted by the. Government to be built, he hoped would help boards in speeding up their building programmes. He desired all education boards to hasten as far as possible the construction of schools. Other people should wait, but the childreji should not wait. The principles of ordinary humanity dictated that the children must be housed comfortably for school work before anything else. Though the cost of building construction was about .110 per cent, higher to-day than in 19J.4, the Government, realising the. needs of the children, would proceed vigorously. He proposed to summon shortly a conference of representatives of education boards to take counsel with, him as to the best means of pushing on the building programme. Perhaps a reform as necessary as building^was that more, teachers should be obtained. The Minister said he proposed to do this by raising the status of the teacher. He hoped very shortly to make the teaching profession more attractive as regards remuneration, and this would attract young men who at present sought employment in other directions. He wanted the best of our young people to take up teaching. Mrs Parr, wife of the Minister, unveiled a memorial to ex-pupils who fell in the war.