REDUCED SCHOOL CLASSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 266, 10 November 1945, Page 4

REDUCED SCHOOL CLASSES

MORE TEACHERS AVAILABLE

(P.A.) Wellington, Nov. 27. “These regulations make it possible for the Government to put into operation to a considerable extent its plan for a reduction in the size of classes in primary schools,” said the Minister of Education, Mr. Mason, to-day, explaining the purpose of the Education Amending Regulations. “For many years the Government has been anxious to make this all-im-nortant advance and had begun to build up a reserve of teachers to enable this to be done,” he added, “but the war intervened and many teachers were diverted to the forces. The return of teachers from service now enables additional staffing to be provided. Approximately 450 new positions for assistant masters are created in the larger schools, and it is anticipated that the majority of these will be filled by returned servicemen. To the staffs of the largest schools two additional assistant masters will he added, while smaller schools with a roll of over 240 will receive one extra teacher.”

While these helpful additions would not wholly overcome difficulties of teachers, further improvements in staffing would be made as more teachers became available, and other grades of schools as well as those to which the present change applies would benefit. The Minister said that other difficulties, such as the provision of necessary classroom accommodation, had still to be overcame, but he sinceiely believed that these new regulations represented one of the most important advances in the primary school system within recent years.