KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22963, 19 August 1936, Page 7

KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION

QUESTION OF EXTENSION MINISTER SEEKS A LEAD MANY DIFFICULT PROBLEMS (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 18. “ I am anxious to know how, in a practical way, we can extend kindergarten education,” said the Minister of Education (Mr P. Fraser), at the opening of the biennial conference of the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union to-day. Welcoming the delegates and speakers, Mrs J. A. Doctor, president of the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association, had said that they were full of hope and good cheer because the Government had given them back all they used to have before the depression, and she expected the Minister would tell them of the Government’s plans. Mr Fraser replied that, on the contrary, he was present more to ask what the union proposed to do. “I am speaking seriously when I say that the time has arrived when I must take some information, knowledge, and a lead out of your experience in the past,” said Mr Fraser. “I am very pleased it was possible for the Government to restore the kindergarten grants back to what they were previously. While we are all grateful for tha“t, and I am happy to be the medium for it, with the permission of the Minister of Finance and the Government, that is not enough, because the organisation must increase, expand, and Improve, and the problem is in what direction and how far can the organisation meet the needs of the children. I know what you have aimed at in the past and how well you have carried it out. The point is: What is the scope of your ideas in the future? I want to be in a position to judge how far your organisation can carry the work out and Whether, as at present constituted, it can carry it out.” There were many problems, Mr Fraser said. He gave as an instance the extension of the benefits of the kindergarteen to country children and children in country villages where the population was insufficient to warrant the establishment of schools, but where classes could be conducted. He asked whether his hearers had considered such problems and how far they had considered them. He would respect the opinions of those who had done the work in the past, and out of that reservoir of experience he would naturally expect valuable guidance. He did not pledge the Government to accept all the conference’s opinions, but their suggestions would receive sympathetic consideration. Many of the problems were more difficult than that of securing money which, however difficult, was a tangible problem.