Nelson Pioneered Free Education System In N.Z.
A number of primary schools throughout New Zealand have recently celebrated jubilees others are preparing to do so in the near future. The reason is that many New Zealand schools were established 70 years ago following the passing of the Education Act, 1877. This Act did not, as has sometimes been stated, introduce the system of free primary education into New Zealand. The system was already here, in places, years before the Act was passed. The pioneer was the Nelson Provincial Council.
From the beginning it set out to provide education for all children and though at first fees were charged they were very small. Sixpence a week was the maximum that any family was required to pay. Besides, there ;was provision for free education for children whose parents were so poor that they could not afford even the. modest fees charged. In 1856 the Nelson council abollished the first free system of primlished th efirst free system of primary schools in New Zealand. It was years before any of the other provinces followed Nelson’s example.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19490221.2.24
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 55, 21 February 1949, Page 5
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183Nelson Pioneered Free Education System In N.Z. Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 55, 21 February 1949, Page 5
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