OVERCROWDED.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1923, Page 6

OVERCROWDED.

CONGESTION IN SCHOOLS. NEED FOR RELIEF.' POSITION IN NEW PLYMOUTH. The overcrowded condition of the public schools in New Plymouth has again received prominence at the various prizegiving ceremonies, and at several of the schools the position was shown to be acute. The question was discussed by Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., a member of the Education Board, in conversation with a Daily News reporter on Saturday. “The whole position,” said Mr. Smith, “it that over a period of a few years there has been a steady growth in the school population in the borough, for which no real provision was made till last year, during which a new school was opened at Moturoa, together with a new infant room at Fitzroy, and the Courtenay Street School was rebuilt. In the interests of the health of the children in this town, every effort should be made by parents to support the board and the several school committees in their endeavour to impress upon the department the urgent need for providing adequate and up-to-date accommodation.” The school populations at the end of the year in the six schools in the borough of New Plymouth were as follow:

THE CENTRAL SCHOOL. The department’s regulations allow 12 feet of floor space per pupil. Thus at the Central School, with a roll number of 742 and an average attendance of 691, the floor space per pupil is only 10.84 square feet. But the position in some of the rooms is much more acute than these figures would indicate. At the Central main school the average floor space per pupil on the roll number is only 9.86 square feet, and in the infant school 10.13 square feet. Even this does not disclose the acuteness in some class-rooms. Thus in Standard ll.’ which has an average attendance of 83.62 out of a roll number of 89, only 740 square feet is provided, which allows only 8.85 square feet per pupil, on the average attendance. In standard IV.. with an average attendance of 77.22 and a roll number of 79, with 660 square feet allotted, rhe floor space per pupil, on the average attendance, is only 8.55 square feet.

“As the matter stands,” said Mr. Smith, “the children are being crowded into a room, and taught under conditions which should not exist.” For some considerable time the attention of the department has been drawn to the conditions existing at the schools in question, but the representations have always been met with the reply that the total floor space on the average attendance had been sufficient. It was true that the overcrowding was not so acute in perhaps two of the classrooms, but the fact remained that the accommodation provided in the school as a whole was totally inadequate. It was suggested by the department that when the Courtenay Street School was completed it would be possible to accommodate standard I. there, but in view of the fact that, through the increased attendance at that school, the floor space at the end of the year was considerably less than the department’s own allowance, it was quite evident that the present difficulty could not be overcome by adopting that proposal. The only solution for the important problem of overcrowding was to provide additional class-room accommodation at the Central Schol, which would be in the form of a nucleus for a new school. OTHERS ALSO CRAMPED.

At West End, despite the opening of the Moturoa School, the attendance was rising, and the floor space per pupil was 11.51 square feet. The position there was identical with that at the Central School, inasmuch as the majority of class-rooms were overcrowded. The accommodation had been taxed to its utmost capacity at Moturoa, and pupils had been refused admission. The position at Vogeltown was being met by additions to the school, which, it was hoped, would be completed during the holidays. At Fitzroy, although the figures disclosed that the required space per pupil was provided, nevertheless some of the ‘class-rooms had to accommodate many more oupils than was beneficial to the health of the children. With reference to Westown, Mr. Smith said the children were being taught under distinctly adverse conditions. For several years a hall had been used, but from every educational point of view the buildings and surroundings were quite unsuitable. In this district the right thing for the Education Department to do, would be to make a grant this year for the erection of an up-to-date school building on the new site, which had been procured on the corner of the Belt and Holdswrthy Roads. In addition the returns from the six private schools in the borough of New Plymouth showed a total attendance of 465, with some returns yet to come in.

School. Av. Weekly Av. Attendence for Dec. Qtr. Floor Space Sq. Ft. Roll. Central 742 691 7.4S8 West End 539 500 5,756 Fitzroy 346 327 3,987 Moturoa 158 134 1,728 Vogeltown 145 138 1,156 Westown 60 54 780