FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17606, 23 October 1931, Page 5

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IMPROVED EFFICIENCY Although tho Education Department ?6 marking time at present, it is likely that an announcement will , be made in tho near future in the matter of the development of post-primary education. Just now, however, the Government is considering the best means of effecting economies in educational expenditure,' and an early announcement of its decision* may be expected. Matters in connection with education were discussed, in conversation with a pressman to-day, by the Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, who was paying a briej visit*to Gisborne mainly to acquaint himself with conditions in the high schools and district high schools. Last evening the director conferred with the Gisborne High School board of governors, and to-day Mr. Strong stated that tho board and his department recognised the financial difficulties with which any extension of educational facilities in the Dominion was faced. However, although the financial depression would impede progress, a plan was being formulated for development along modern lines. The details of that plan Mr. Strong was not in a position to disclose, but he intimated that it was hoped that in the near future it would be make substantial progress in, the direction of providing a more efficient type of post-primary education, bringing the technical side into greater prominence than in the past. Touching upon primary education, Mr Strong stated that he was making a point of visiting the native schools, as it was the earnest desire of the department that these schools should play an important part in the development of the native race. Already improvements had been effected in the native school buildings, and the staffs wero being improved by the inclusion of a larger number of certificated teachers than it was possible to employ in past years. Mr Strong will also visit the country schools and the distinct high schools en route from Gisborne to Wellington, for, as ho remarked, one of the dangers an administrator had to face was that of losing touch with the work actually being done in the schools.