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5. POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

The problem of providing further education for the Maori children passing out of Form II in our Native schools continues to be a very acute one. Last year there were 749 pupils in Form II in Native schools, 652 of these being Maori. Owing to the shortage of available accommodation, it is not possible to increase our annual allocation of from 85 to 90 scholarships, and so we have been compelled, in awarding scholarships, to give a considerable degree of preference to those Maori children who are unable to get secondary education within reasonable distance of their homes. It is recognized that most Maori children, even those living in the larger centres, would benefit by a period of residence in a hostel with its many new contacts, improved living conditions, and sympathetic but strict supervision, but our aim must be to ensure that the greatest possible number of those passing out of Form II shall pass on to higher education. Until more hostels can be provided, the solution must lie in the expansion of the Native district high school movement. This was started by the establishment of three post-primary departments in the East Coast area in 1941. The courses were to be essentially practical ones, but the innovation did not make an immediate appeal to the Maori people in that area, and the schools had a struggle to maintain adequate rolls. With the new syllabus for School Certificate, however, it became possible for pupils at these schools to reach that standard, and the curriculum was modified with that aim in view. It was evident that the Maori people did not want any suspicion of inferiority about their district high schools, and there is evidence, however, that the idea of Maori district high schools is now beginning to take much firmer root and is beginning to spread. A fourth district high school was established at Te Kao, in the Far North, in 1944, and we have had requests for the formation of Form 111 classes in other areas, preliminary to the establishment of district high schools when the rolls permit. At the end of 1945 there were 81 pupils enrolled in these four post-primary schools, but their rolls during the year were over 90. The following table shows the number of scholarship holders enrolled at the public and private secondary schools in the month of December, 1945 :

The Junior Te Makarini Scholarship was awarded to Enoka Munro, of the Whakaki Native School. An Industrial Scholarship was awarded to Gerald Rangi. Three University Scholarships were awarded as follows : Victor Urlich, Architecture ; Sidney Anaru, Medicine ; Te Hope Taipana, Law. The Government has done much to give additional facilities for post-primary education in recent years, especially by increasing the number of continuation scholarships, thus enabling the successful students to get four years at a secondary school. As a result of these facilities many of our young Maori students have passed the School Certificate Examination, and have thereby qualified for entrance to the

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Boys. Girls. School. Number. " School. Number. Te Aute College, Pukehou Wesley College, Paerata Sacred Heart College, Auckland St. Patrick's College, Silverstream Dannevirke High School Gisborne High School Napier Boys' High School New Plymouth Boys' High School Feilding Agricultural High School 57 21 8 7 7 4 13 3 5 Hukarere College, Napier Queen Victoria College, Auckland St. Jospeh's Maori Convent, Napier Turakina Maori Girls' College, Marton .. 44 35 39 28 Total 125 Total 146