WANTED A TEACHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 35

WANTED A TEACHER.

EDUCATION IN THE BACKBLOCK'S. CORRESPONDENCE COURSE SUGGESTED. Years ago it was common enough in outback districts for the children of settlers to be denied an opportunity for primary education simply through -lack of facilities and as a result of the limitations of the nitional educational system, but in these days when the Government grant for education is such an important item on the Budget for the year, it seems passing strange that from the backblocks of Central Utago—the Kyeburn Diggings—a complaint should come, to the effect that a family o£ children is cut off from the nearest school by 14. miles of. bad road and flood waters in winter. And yet a truant officer is necessary in some places. A most deserving case of this nature has been brought before the notice of the Otago Provincial Council of the Farmers’ Union. Mr H. J. Forward recently purchased a small hotel at Kyeburn Diggings and, with it, a small leasehold run. At the time of his purchase a teacher was stationed there, but she applied for a removal and obtained it, after which the Education Board closed the school on the grounds that the number of pupils offering was not sufficient. This left Mr Forward’s children with no means of continuing their studies. He immediately negotiated with the board for a teacher, offering to provide free board and lodging, but the board could do nothing for him.. Repeated applications to headquarters in Wellington produced no results, and the anxious father had perforce to send his children to Timaru and pay board for four of them. He now finds that he cannot afford to keep his family away from home, and they are now back at Kyeburn, with no opportunity of continuing ' their education. In despair, Mr Forward has appealed to the Farmers’ Union to take up his case Speaking of the case, a member of the executive, who has personal acquaintance with the case, says it is a most, deserving one. The hotel turns over “about a. barrel of beer in a year,” and the man has been taking what day work he could secure to try and keep, his children at. school in Timaru. But it is now impossible, and he is anxious to get a teacher for his children, and is.prepared to board her free. Inquiries made at the Education Board Office by our representative last week elicited the >nformation that the department did not recommend household schools in cases where fewer than six or seven children were concerned. However, the board had. told Mr Forward that if he would furnish copies of the correspondence with the department in Wellington, it would look into the matter, and see if some special arrangement could be come to. This was not done, and the matter was dropped.It appears that the onlv 'solution of such problems .as this—and there are several similar cases in Otago—can be found in the Education . Department’s correspondence system which is operated from Wellington. This method of educating children in the hnekblocks has been quite successful in the North Island, and should prove not less so in the case of Kyeburn Diggings. It was pointed out to the reporter that if a teacher were sent she would receive £l5 for each child—the capitation per bead —making a salary of £6O per annum and involving several months’ complete exile.