DECENTRALISATION

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1932, Page 2

DECENTRALISATION

DOMINION’S-EDUCATION SYSTEM REMOVAL OF ITS ANOMALIES. (Per Press Association’— Copyright.) CHRISTCHURCH,. Oct. 31. The decentralisation. of tliA control of : education by the appointment of boards controlling districts of a provincial ‘ character is the main note of a report drawn up by the Canterbury District Standing on Education. | This committee, consisting of repre- } sentatives of all the educational bodies in the Canterbury district, has shad ! under consideration the question of the unification of the control of education in the Dominion, the reform of the present system to remove its anomalies, and'the incorporation in a new ! system of features borrowed from other countries and chiefly from England. In a brief historical sketch the committee explains how various anomalies in the New Zealand system arose and liow, mainly because of the absence of local finance, the Government has been able gradually to centralise yirtually all the functions of direction and colli trol jn the Education Department. | It proposes that the district boards should be eight or nine In liuhiber, that j Auckland should be divided into two districts and Marlborough divided, the northern part being attached to Wellington and the southern to Canterbury. Each school, whether primary or post-primary, should have it own school council, elected mainly as the present committees are elected, and that the board should be representative of the school councils, the university college board, school staffs an{ , non-departmental schools, and that each board should have the power to co-opt members who have special educa-tional-knowledge of experience.

It is suggested that the departmental control should be revised, that the Minister should have the assistance of a council of departmental representatives, and that the Department’s powers should function to ensure a minimum standard of efficiency, to prevent duplication of services, to classify teachers, appoint inspectors to carry out'the inspection of the-schools in cooperation with the district boards, to pay the teachers and to distribute capitation' allowances in special grants through the district boards. The general idea is that the work of education should be carried out through the district boards and always with the advice of and .after consultation with the school councils and the district boards.

The report, which contains brief summaries of the control systems of Aus,tralia,.the UnitedxStates-.and (England, is signed by Dr James Hight, as chairman, and Mr 8. R. Evison, as secretary.