PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19944, 31 October 1934, Page 6

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

GRADING OF 179 JO BE LOWERED INSTITUTE ALARMED By Telegraph— Press Association WELLINGTON, October 30 Figures received from eight of the T'T Education Boards show that while 179 schools will fall in grade from February 1, only 93 will nfe to grade” This sentence is contained In state- ! f lel J t r.j Sued to_da y by the New Zealand Educational Institute on the subject of the down grading of schools j ’Nearly half of the up gradings, 48 j per cent, to be accurate, are small 1 grade schools, and hence will not j give rise to new positions, whereas the down gradings are affecting schools of j 311 grades including the larger ones ” I the statement proceeds. “Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of the prim- ■ ary schools knows that the reduction lof the school roll by about 18.000 through the exclusion of five-year-j olds must result in widespread down grading if the existing regulations are to be enforced. “Even if the upgradings were approximately equal to the down gradings, the effects of the former in enforcing staff changes would not cancel out the effects of the latter. Every alteration in the grade of schools above grade 2 involves a change in the preexisting staffing. The wholesale transfer of head teachers must, therefore, mean that many are being removed from positions just when they have reached or are reaching their highest level of efficiency, and that in a large number of instances the work of the schools is suffering more or less serious disturbance.”