THE STATE OF THE CHRISTCHURCH PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7656, 5 June 1886, Page 5

THE STATE OF THE CHRISTCHURCH PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —PRES3 ASSOCIATION.J Guristciiorcu, Friday. At the meeting of the Education Board of North Canterbury, held yesterday, the subcommittee appointed to inquire into the condition of the public schools, reported from various sources to be unsatisfactory, submitted a voluminous report, together with a full transcription of all the evidence taken by them in the course of their investigations. The report set forth that the inspector's complaints were well founded ; that the system, or rather want of system, under which the executive work of the Board has been performed is objectionable from every point of view, and is responsible for the appointment and retention of officers who have been the apparent or immediate cause of many past failures. Most of the mistakes and failures were attributed to bad inspecting, and worse reporting by the inspectors. The report went into the details of the defective teaching. It complained severely of the non-succcs3 of the Normal School. Exception was, however, made in favour of the good work of the headmaster. The inconvenient, defective school buildings and class-rooms were animadverted on, as also the extension of the syllabus, etc. The report suggested remedies in the shape of improvements in the work of the Board, and various reforms in the work of the inspectors ami teachers. The Board resolved, "That 500 copies of the report And evidence attached, also of the inspectors*' reports which caused the appointment of the committee, be struck off, in order that the teachers' and the public generally might be made acquainted with the whole subject." The adoption of the report was deferred to next meeting. Very considerable sensation has been caused, not only in the teaching profession, but in the public mind, by the statements that have been made in reference to the state of the schools. The denouement has been precipitated by a scathing report from the new Inspector of Schools, who has vigorously assailed the entire system.