The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. Thursday, April 15th, 1909. CENTRALISATION.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 5402, 15 April 1909, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. Thursday, April 15th, 1909. CENTRALISATION.

Fhom time to time spasmodic) attempts have boon made to oentraliao our education ayatom but fortunately thoso attempts have proved futile. Judging by what has taken place in Tasmania centralisation has proved a thorough failure. Four years ago the centralisation of education took plaoe in Tasmania, and a very able man was appointed as Direotor of Education. A rooently published report shows the system to be a oomplete failure. The general state of the sohools seems to be little, if anything, bettor than it was four years ago, and tho groat body of the toaohers are almost in open rebellion against the central administration. Tho inefficiency of the primary sohools is plainly indioatod by the support given to a large number of private schools throughout the State. The Government Bchools aro supported only by thoso parents who cannot afford to send their children to private schools. Mr J. A. Johnson, M.A., formerly a well known Now Zealand teaohor, and now principal of tho Ilorbert Training College for Teachers, was requested to oxamine some country sohools, and found there boys over twelve years of ago who could not read the first primer. These pupils were eagerly looking forward to the time when they could loave sohool at tho age of thirtoon—tho compulsory limit. It is freely admitted that many of the Tasmanian teaohers have had no training, so that it is not surprising that thoro aro many inefficient schools. And if the toaching is inefficient tho gonoral state of tho school buildings and teaohers’ rosidonccs is, to put it mildly, no better. An export builder gavo evidonoe before the Commission that it would tako £BO,OOO to put all the sohools and rosidenoos in a deoont state of repair. Many of tho teachors’ residences are in a disgraceful state, being neither lined nor papered, and many sohool buildings twenty years old havo novor been ropaporod during that period.