SCHOOL ENTRANCE AGE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1935, Page 7

SCHOOL ENTRANCE AGE

QUESTION OF EXPENSE

EXCLUSION OF FIVE-YEAR-OLDS.

TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT?

PETITION TO BE CONSIDERED.

A statement with reference to the school entrance age question made by the Minister for Education, the Hon. S. G. Smith, to the annual conference of the Taranaki School Committees’ Association at New Plymouth was the subject of comment on Saturday by Mr. G. R. Ashbridge, secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute. Mr. Smith said it would cost. £84,000 to re-admit the five-year-old children and asked committeemen to keep the financial aspect of the question in mind.. “In the- first place,” said Mr. Ashbridge, “£84,000 works out at an expenditure of only Is Id pei - head of population—not exactly a crushing burden on the community. Secondly, if the Minister is going to use this argument, the onus is upon him to show that the saving effected by the exclusioh of the five-year-olds is justified. So far he has made no clear statement of his views on the question. “What teachers and the public would like’to know is whether he regards the exclusion of the five-year-olds as a temporary measure in the interests of economy, or envisages it as a permanent feature of the education system, justified on educational grounds. Teachers and the public have a definite right to expect such a statement.” The entrance age was the subject of a petition to Parliament, said Mr. Smith when Mr. Ashbridge’s comment was referred to him at New Plymouth last night. The petition would be considered as soon as the House met and would, he expected, be referred to the Education Committee, which would no doubt take evidence on the matters and report back to the House. In that case Mr. Ashbridge would be able to give evidence if he applied for permission. \

“Until then I am not disposed to comment on Mr. Ashbridge’s points,” concluded the Minister, “and I prefer, to await the report of the committee.”