Education delays criticised

Press, 21 April 1979, Page 6

Education delays criticised

Delays by the Ministry of; Works in purchasing land and houses for the Canterbury Education Board were criticised at a board meeting yesterday. Mr R. F. Armstrong, a board member, said he was becoming increasingly concerned about the problems faced by the board because of these delays. The purchase of land and houses had to take time, said Mr Armstrong, but some items had been on the board’s agenda for a long time because they had awaited handling by the Ministry of Works. The West Coast Principal’s Association had exnressed concern about the delavs in getting more teacher housing in Greymouth, said Mr Armstrong.

Purchasing delays could

not be afforded, he said. Land and houses were lost and in the long run more had to be paid for them.

The board’s chairman (Mr D. L. Waghorn) said the matter was a concern of the board and virtually every educational organisation in New Zealand. The Ministry of Works was frustrated a lack of staff. It was suffering the same “sinking lid” policy of other Government departments. Mr Waghorn said the Minister of Education (Mr Wellington) and the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young) should meet to see if they could get the system to move “a little more swiftly.” The board agreed to ask the Education Boards’ Association to take un the purchas-ing-delay problem.

The board also agreed to write to the Minister of Education asking that a special case be made for additional funds for primary schools which had their share of the money necessary to build a general-purposes hall available this year. Mrs N. J. Johnson, a board member, said secondary schools were supplied with general-purpose halls, which was “fair enough.” However, primary schools had to raise money themselves towards such halls.

A school in her ward had raised enough money but because of the financial situation a Government subsidy on this was not availaP Additional money should be available to primary schools which had their

share of the money available now. The quotation the school had received for the hall had increased by $5OO between October and February. By the time a subsidy was available, the price of the hall would be out of the school’s reach again. Mrs Johnson said she knew building allocations had been reduced this year, but the raising of money for halls at primary schools involved parents’ efforts and the board had to make an effort too. Another board member, Mr M. C. Butler, said that because of the time lag, the children of parents who had worked for such halls would not get the benefit of them, as they would have left the schools.