SCHOOL COMMITTEE REMITS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1933, Page 6

SCHOOL COMMITTEE REMITS.

The list of remits to be discussed at the annual conference of School Committees’ Associations of New Zealand at Wellington this month contains a number of matters of more or less general interest to the public, and one or two of national importance. Education has undergone such marked changes in recent years that there is certain to be difference of opinion on many points. This is reflected in the revival by the school committees of a number of “old chestnuts” such as the advisability or otherwise of intermediate schools, extension of the district high school system in rural districts with a bias towards agriculture, and the basis of staffing the schools. The recent restriction of grants on account of the economic position has produced a crop of remits advocating a return to the old order, or at any rate the spending of more money in one direction or another by the department. The chief obstacle in the way of realisation of these desires is not so much public opinion as the inability of the country to find the necessary money. A matter of great importance to the teaching profession is the system of grading, and the strength of the desire for a change indicates that the present system is by no means entirely satisfactory. It is left to the Wellington association to bring forward the suggestion of chief importance, Wellington advocates the depoliticalisation of the control of education, and the formation of a national council to control the general system, with subsidiary “unified district councils” to safeguard local interests. This may mean much or little. Apparently the underlying desire is to rid education of the constant changes of policy made on the accession of each new Minister of Education to power. Up to a point it is a laudable object, but the public would like to know more about the scheme, particularly the constitution and scope of the national council. Properly constituted it might make an ideal controlling body; on the other hand if the transfer means an intensification of bureaucracy it will be a case of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. The preservation of local interest is provided for in the proposed scheme by the establishment of unified district councils. Without more knowledge as to the number and constitution of the district councils it is difficult to see what advantages they would possess over the existing education boards. The question will doubtless be fully debated at the conference, and the result will be awaited with interest.