TEACHERS ON STRIKE

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 71, 25 March 1914, Page 2

TEACHERS ON STRIKE

LIVELY SCENES

JUVENILE RIOTERS

Lively scenes marked the first day | of the teachers' strike in Hereford- i shire (England!). when seventy schools i were closed owing to the resignations ' of the staffs. At other schools which I were kept open the children resented the .appearance-" of the new teachers. The teachers declared that the"^ average pay of teachers in Hereford- 1 shire was much lower than the ■ average for the whole country, s though the education rate was the I lowest, and they asked for the adop- i tion of a scale of salaries. They J suggested that tho salaries of headmasters should rise by £5 yearly from £120 to £150 in schools' with 80 pupils or less; from £140 to £180 ■in schools with between 80 and 120 pupils; and from £160 to £220 in schools with over 120 scholars; also that there should be a scale for headmistresses and assistants. The Education Committee refused to formulate a scheme, and reserved the right to fix salaries in every case according to the applicant's qualifications.

CLASS-ROOM PANDEMONIUM.

t> m? e o>cl Pck> when the school at Ross—the largest in the county— should have opened, the boys paraded the town singing songs and cheering, iowards ten o'clock they were induced to enter the school, and immediately there was pandemonium. Inkpots were thrown about and desks overturned. Finally the boys broke out of the building and 'marched again through the .town. The demonstration proceeded with the apparent approval of the townsfolk. A new teacher arrived at Ledbury to take the place of the headmistress who had gone put on strike. She had received from a representative of the Education Committee a bunch of a hundred keys, and managed to find the key which opened the school door but she could! not find the correct keys to open all the cupboal'ds, desks, and other doors. No register could be called, and practically no school work.'was done.

At the end of. the morning session the girls broke, unruly mob. They dressed ;^ grooms and wrote notices: '' ''^We are' 'going; to have our teachers bajek." To a piano "accompaniment desks were overturned. The floor was bespattered with ink. The teacher was followed out of the school by a;:;crowd of children shouting "BlacklegT^ At :1-'3Q, when the scholars were due back at school, about 200 of the bigger v girls held a meeting in the playground and decided to ; strike. When the new mistress appeared she was. greeted with hooting. Children guarded both back and .front doors to prevent her from entering the" school. On the wails and doors they wrote: "We want our teachers back again, and .we mean to have them."

Some fights occurred between striking and non-striking children, and parents arrived to separate the combatants. Some of the non-strikers entered the school through a window. The strikers followed and threw-their hats and coats out of the window. More piano-playing and throwing of books arid inkpots followed; and one of the girls rang the large school bell from the top window. Cheers were given for the teachers on strike. At three o'clock the teacher abandoned her effort to create order, and left the school. The children s declare that they will not go back until their old teachers are reinstated.

A. Mr W. C. Smith was for over thirty yead-s teacher at a large boys' school ao Bromyard, and had taught the fathers of' some of the present pupils. He was a comparatively well-paid teacher, but in sympathy with his colleagues he resigned," and a successor was appointed. In anticipation of trouble the school managers attended to shepherd the boys into the school, and a sergeant of police was called into . service to restrain those who showed a disposition to wander away. To this . comedy "a touch of f aa-ce was . added by * the casual appearance of- a- man with a gun. Verbal suasion sufficed, and the gun was not employed. At a place called Ashperton the school opened with a new staff. It is a large one, with an attendance of 120 pupils. Here the persuasions of the new headmasters and the authorities fell on deaf ears. The pupils', with cheers for their old headmaster, refused to enter. After a hard struggle, fourteen infants were netted, and the rest straggled away CLERICAL STRIKE-BREAKERS.

! Efforts were made to keep, somp schools open with the services of supplementary teachers- teachers of the lowest grade. Kb one fairly large school at Ivington classes of restless scholars were taken by a supplementary teacher and a girl pupil aged thirteen. Elsewhere the clergy stepped into the breach. At Bread-wai-dine and at Dilwyn the vicars of the parishes acted as strike-breakers. The sympathy of the parents was wholly on the side of the teachers. A meeting in support of them was held at Breadwardine, and a number of farmers and others walked four or five miles up a steep road to the only available hall.

The managers of the schools in some places _ were indignant because the education authority appointed new teachers of whom they disappi'oved, or even appointed teachers without consulting them. The managers of one school had had submitted to them by the education committee the names of two- applicants, on© of whom had been a market gardener for the past dozen years. Nobody could fail to recognise the spirit of the strikers. Men whose incomes avore less than £100 refused j posts in. other parts "of the country j which, would bring them promotions in their profession and perhaps £50 \ as additional salary. Some of the \ strikers had labored in their villages : for fifteen or twenty years. In many ! cases the schools were taught by man and wife working together, and they spoke almost with tears of the wrench ! that a parting from their homes! Would mean to them. ■