FIRST CONCERN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20503, 22 August 1936, Page 8

FIRST CONCERN

HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

VIEWS OF MINISTER ts. • • L’raph -PresF A-^oriaii<d DANNEVIRKE, August 21. ‘ Health is our first concern. The most important question for our children and their children, for they are the adults of the future, is health,” said the Minister of Education (Hon. P. Fraser) when officially opening the new primary north school, Dannevirke, this afternoon. The Minister said that it was most important that children should be born with a good constitution, born healthy, and that parents should have an adequate income to provide a good home, with plenty of sunshine and fresh air, and adequate and good food. One of the most important parts of education was physical education. He regretted that during recent years the question of physical training had fallen into the background. The money and effort spent on it had been greatly reduced, with the regrettable result that children were going from primary to post primary schools physically defective. A few weeks ago he had a very seriuos report laid before him in connection with Wellington Boys’ College, showing the unfortunate state of affairs that boys entering it were physically defective, mainly in posture. “It will be one of our most important worries during the coming years to see that there are sufficient physical instructors appointed to go round the schools instructing children, and directing teachers in the matter of physical education, because the more we spend in health services for the children the less will be spent endeavouring, some tir es hopelessly, to cure ill health in grown up people,” said Mr Fraser. The whole object of medical and health science at present is to endeavour to keep people well, and to do that they must begin with the children. They had a good medical service that they were improving. They were strengthening the school medical service, getting more doctors and more nurses, because it had been found that with the present service, good as it was, they were not able to have doctors visiting some schools districts nearly as often as they ought, and sometimes, indeed, very rarely. It was hoped that within a period of five or six years the average child in the primary schools in the Dominion would receive dental treatment and attention. Open Air Type The Minister said that there was developing in the Dominion the principle of the new type of open air school, which was a vast improvement on anything the country had hitherto had. There was no reason why New Zealand should not lead the world in education. Its system had some excellent features, and some very bad ones, which the Governn.ent wanted to improve. During the last few months, he had been surprised and gratified to some across some exceptionally good work in schools, and instanced cases in a Dunedin school where he hau found the teacher instructing standards ire and six in the singing of Negro spirituals during a music lesson, and then giving some of Joh Drinkwater’s poems in a choral subject. That simply took one’s breath away, because he did not think music had attained such heights in the primary schools. When that was reported in a number of instances, one could not help feeling proud oi the work being carried on in the schools, and realising the devotion and self-sacrifice of so many of the teachers. Miraculous Work Mr Fraser said that on a recent visit to a school for deaf at Sumner, he had seen work that could not be excelled anywhere. When one saw work of that description, which was almost miraculous, one felt that only a beginning had been made in understanding the power of human beings to help one another. The Minister commented on the wonderful work being carried on in many of their schools, primary, special, intermediate, secondary and technical, and said that they wanted the best in all departments of education, and they wanted parents to feel that the way of the child, right from the kindergarten to the University, was open.