MILLION FOR SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18455, 19 July 1923, Page 11

MILLION FOR SCHOOLS.

AUCKLAND URGES LOAN.

ACCOMMODATION PROBLEM.

BROAD NATIONAL POLICY.

The Auckland Education Board yesterday took initial action toward the advocacy of the raising ;,. of a loan of £1,000,000 to overtake educational needs in the Dominion.

A lengthy communication dealing with urgent works, especially with regard to teachers' residences and school accommodation, was recently " addressed by the board to the director of education in Wellington. In this communication it was suggested that, though the board had not pressed during recent years for the erection' of school residences except in very urgent cases, the time had arrived when the whole position should be seriously considered. . The lack of accommodation for teachers in rural areas was one of the chief difficulties. In one case a teacher with three children was living in a disused shelter shed. In many rural areas it was quite impossible for the settlers to find accommodation for even a single teacher, and when a married teacher was appointed to a district it was oftentimes out of the question to find a house for him. The need- for residences in rural areas was imperative. The lack of school accommodation was another difficulty, the observance of the minimum floor space of 12 square feet per pupil involving a large building problem. The board had not been able to cope with the serious lack of accommodation in the Auokland district for the last five or six years. Since 1916 the average attendance had grown from 42,000 to 56,000, which had increased the necessity for extra school accommodation. Schools and additions were urgently needed in many centres. The use of halls should be discontinued. In many cases they were unsanitary, and were mostly ill-ventilated, unhygienio, and badly lighted. A broad national policy was desired, and a loan was needed to put all educational authorities and institutions upon a j sound footing with regard to accommoda- ! tion and equipment. The need for more secondary schools in the Auckland district would soon become clamant, % new training college was an urgent necessity, and provision for the extension of manual and technical training was becoming imperative. Unless a bold policy was adopted, the needs of the Auckland district would not be overcome. The raising of a loan for education purposes would, in the board's judgment, be altogether outside the region of controversy. Mr. H. S. W. King moved that copies of the board's memorandum be circulated to the other education boards in the Dominion, with a view to concerted action in urging that a loan of £1,000,000 should be raised for educational purposes. The board adopted the motion unanimously.