The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1932 SCHOOL ENTRANCE AGE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 123, 19 May 1932, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1932 SCHOOL ENTRANCE AGE

That far-reaching effects will follow the raising of the school age from five years to six, was the opinion of speakers at the annual conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute. A remit regretting the decision of the Government to exclude five-year-old children from the schools and directing the incoming executive to give careful consideration to its effects with a view to submitting evidence to the Minister in support of a claim for a repeal of the clause in the Act, was carried unanimously. The remit set out that the Dominion’s present modern infant departments catered fully for the physical and mental requirements of young children, that the resulting redistribution of staffs would cause grave disorganisation of schools for many years, to the detriment of the children, and that a considerable reduction of staffs of the schools would add to the present depressed economic conditions. In moving the motion, Mr. F. A. Garry, Auckland, said that the exclusion of the five-year-old children had a threefold bearing—a bearing in relation to children, society and the members of the teaching profession. They had to consider the physical and mental requirements of the young children. For these the modern infant school provided the condition to meet the requirements. Sir Truby King had recently pointed out that children should be allowed to develop physically. The speaker did not think that there was anybody in the profession who would dare to say that the position differed from that of education. Other countries where the school age was six were often quoted, but they had systems of kindergarten schools. One of the commonest difficulties which they had to face was connected with children who came from a certain class of home, and if they were allowed to continue in the environment of their homes, some of the difficulties increased and they were much more difficult to control at six. A very considerable number of teachers would lose their positions—one could not say how many yet—but it would be a considerable number. The great majority of schools throughout the country would have their staffs disorganised. The transfers would cost a lot of money wffiich might be saved by not interfering. . Many of the teachers would be put into positions which they would not like, and the changes would have a very material result on our schools.