DUNEDIN TRAINING COLLEGE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14981, 29 April 1909, Page 9

DUNEDIN TRAINING COLLEGE

SPEECH BY THE MINISTER. [Per Peeks Association.] DUNEDIN, April 27. The new training college, in which there are about 100 students, was officially opened by tho Minister of .Education this afternoon. The Minister in the course of his speech emphasised the importance of training colleges, and went on to give particulars of the vote for training colleges, mentioning that since 1904 th© vote has increased from £BOOO to £32,000. Under the present regulations' it was contemplated that each training college should have 100 students in attendance. The allowances and other inducements offered t© students at training colleges were far more liberal than those offered to students anywhero else in the world. At the end of 1908 there were at all four colleges 288 students, of whom 77 were iuen and 211 women. Towards this number Wellington, contributed 80, Dunodin 80, Christchurch 78 and Auckland 50. Tho amount granted for buildings specially intended for training colleges since tho inception of tho new scheme of 1904 had been £25,000, nearly £9OOO each to Auckland and Dunedin, and nearly £6OOO to Wellington. The amount expended on the training colleges during th© past financial year, exclusive of that spent on. buildings, was £25,721. This total provides not only for the efficient training of over 280 teachers, but for the instruction of about 1600 children in attendance at the practising schools. Th© Minister went on to say that as the new Act comes into operation more adult trained teachers will be required in the schools. In fact during the next few years from 700 to 750 more teachers at least will be required. It is therefore desirable' that the number of students in each college should be not less than 100, the limit now fixed. The number of students trained during tho past fiv© years was:—ln 1904, 75; in 1905, 221: in 1906, 264; in 1907, 253; in 1908, 288;, total, 1101;-'of whom 842 were females and 259 males. In conclusion the Minister said-:—" I would suggest that training colleges might act as centres for collecting and-distributing amongst the schools sets of illustrative material for object-lessons, material that would show the natural products and tho manufactured articles of our own and other countries."