TEACHERS IN MAORI SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 8

TEACHERS IN MAORI SCHOOLS.

There is a band of men and women doing a wonderfully good work in New Zealand —work which is hidden mostly in very out-of-the-way country places; I refer to the teachers in the numerous little Maori schools. Often these positions are held by husband and wife. Formerly men and women of a fair general education, but with no trained knowledge of teaching, were appointed to these schools; but to-day the "head" at least must be a qualified teacher. As may be readily imagined, these schools are nearly all in very isolated Bpots, where Europeans are not seen from one month's end to the other. The only break in the monotony is the weekly trip to the nearest township for stores and mail. To think out the week's menu while doing an hour's shopping is only one of the crumples in the rose leaf. To hunger all rthe week for mail and newspapers is another. Then, when you fill a position like this, you adopt a whole family. Only you are not parents but grandparents. While the legitimate parents frolic around youthfully, quite carefree, you shoulder the burden of their offspring. You are provided with a first-aid simple remedy outfit, which is almost a small chemist's shop. Impartially you hand out castor oil for Patu's tummyache, aspFos for Mere's incipient "flu." Salts you liberally bestow on all, and no matter how sick you feel you have to put iodine in gashes, split toes and chilblains, and bind them up. There is no cry of "I hate sewing day"; sewing lessons are simply absorbed. Maori mothers greatly approve of sewing lessons. But the sewing mistress' trials are by no means over when school closes. At one school on an island near Tauranga the mistress has for years cut out and almost made frocks for all the girls to wear on the day of the inspector's visit. It is a big task to fit out over thirty girls. The scholars are mostly bright and interesting; as a rule they shine at composition (the natural gift of their forefathers) and quickly learn to write very beautifully. They are alarmingly careless about their health. "If only they didn't always have such dreadful colds," one teacher said to me; and in this respect the cause is not hard to find, for on a warm day they will come to school with the whole contents of their wardrobes on; then to-morrow when a bleak wind is blowing they will make a coy appearance in a thin print frock with very scanty garments beneath. The Bay of Plenty is dotted with these little Maori schools, all doing great work. Formerly teachers in Maori schools were made to feel that there was a great gulf between them and the teachers of European scholars; this, happily, is almost over, though occasionally a hint of superiority is still felt. Exactly why this should be is rather hard to understand. They are under the same Government; their syllabus is almost the same; they have the usual "inspections; and their responsibility is almost double. However, as more and more often one meets with young Maori youth of quite solid education so the teachers of Maori schools will be granted their just recognition. —G. EDITH BURTON.