Re-Opening Of Schools

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 14, 20 January 1948, Page 5

Re-Opening Of Schools

Three Weeks’ Safety Margin To Be Allowed Though no official intimation has been received in this district yet, it is reliably reported that schools in the Auckland Education Board’s area are unlikely to re-open until at least three weeks after the last case of poliomyelitis has been reported. That being so, there seems to be no possibility of their reopening at the beginning of February as is usual. It is understood that the Department has prepared material and had it distributed to the schools so that, if necessary, the children’s education may be resumed by correspondence. On that score, there is a certain amount of uneasiness amongst parents concerning a rumour that the correspondence system will be tied up with radio instruction. It has been pointed out by parents in conversations on the subject that not every home has a radio, and that, whilst the use of that medium of instruction is no doubt to be commended, it would be necessary, if it were made a prominent part of the stop-gap system, to make some arrangement whereby children in homes without radio would not be handicapped. Just how such a difficulty could be overcome does seem to present a problem, but it is a safe assumption that the Department, in preparing its plans, would have taken all aspects of the question of extramural education into consideration and would no doubt have provided for all contingencies.