QUESTION and ANSWER

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 8, 21 May 1945, Page 19

QUESTION and ANSWER

SOME REHABILITATION INFORMATION

Question : Could you please enlighten me as to the eligibility of demobilized personnel for educational facilities under the Rehabilitation Department’s scheme ? Also as to details of facilities. Answer: The primary qualification for educational assistance is that the applicant must be discharged, and evidence of discharge is necessary. If the applicant is on 1.L.W.0.P., a distinction is made according to his medical grading. If he is Grade 1, all forms of assistance, except full-time assistance, are available to him , if he is Grade 11 or lower, all forms of assistance are available. In considering applications from 1.L.W.0.P. personnel, tests of eligibility on service or through special circumstances are applied. Apart from full-time assistance (which is granted subject to certain considerations regarding nature and period of service, man-power obligations, &c.), educational assistance is available for those who have had at least twelve months’ service. The types of assistance available are two-fold, viz. : — (a) Class I Facilities.— These are authorized by District Rehabilitation officers. These facilities include :— (i) Tuition at secondary or technical schools under the control of the Education Department. (ii) Ordinary University bursaries, comprising a grant for the purchase of books, and payment of college, examination, and tuition fees. (N.B. —These bursaries are granted only in cases where the applicant has passed the University Entrance Examination or has bad his Provisional Matriculation confirmed.) (iii) Courses through the Education Department’s Correspondence School,

where the applicant is unable to attend a post-primary school or University. (b) Class II Facilities.— facilities are granted by the Education Committee of the Rehabilitation Board. The facilities include — (i) Ordinary bursaries (as in Class I) where the applicant has not passed the University Entrance Examination, and where Provisional Matriculation is necessary for degree study. (ii) Special University Bursaries. These are similar to the Ordinary bursaries, but in addition they provide for the payment of subsistance allowance during the college year. Full-time study is essential for these bursaries. (iii) Post-graduate bursaries. These are available both in New Zealand and overseas. The provisions include payment of passage-moneys in the case of overseas bursaries, and the payment of subsistence allowances, college, tuition fees, &c. (iv) Correspondence tuition through private colleges for approved courses not available through the Education Department’s Correspondence School. Arrangements are now being made by which ex-servicemen and women who are given grants to obtain University textbooks may use this grant to hire books from the Army Education Welfare Service at an annual rental of 20 per cent, of the cost of the books. By this means an applicant with a grant of £5 could obtain on loan books to the value of Details of this scheme will be announced in due course, and ex-servicemen and ex-ser-vicewomen should then apply to their District Rehabilitation Officer for assistance in this field.