SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17361, 7 January 1920, Page 6

SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS.

The plea entered by the Educational Institute for the provision of substantial areas for school purposes in the country will bo sympathetically viewed by all who realise that the school should develop the bodies as well as the minds of j children and that overcrowding in playgrounds may be as objectionable as overcrowding in classrooms. The financial provision made by the Government last session encourages the hope that sufficiently numerous and sufficiently large schools will soon be provided throughout the Dominion, but the reform will only be par tial unless accompanied by the en- ! largement of many existing play grounds. In Auckland the areas attached to many schools are so small as to deny to pupils their sacred right to recreation and exer cise. This is a matter which calls for urgent attention. The remedy may prove costly and not easy to apply but it must be sought. Meantime the authorities should take steps to prevent similar congestion arising in the future by reserving in every growing centre enough land to meet the estimated requirements of education for all time. Such preventive action would prove easy and inexpensive. If the Education Depart ment is content to wait till the increase of population has cramped playgrounds and greatly appreciated land values it will store up much trouble for the years to come.