RED TAPE OR COMMON SENSE?

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 311, 20 September 1918, Page 4

RED TAPE OR COMMON SENSE?

A DisoDSSiON at the meeting of the- Wellington Education Boardon Wednesday raises the . question whether some of the disabilities under which our education system is suffering are not due- in part k> red-tape methods in the Education Department. From tho Teachers' Institute, School Committees, and Boards we have frequently heard complaints of overcrowded classrooms. These complaints wo believe to be well founded. Amongst tho local schools which are suffering from this overcrowding is Karori. Its case was taken up by the Education Board and by it referred to the Department, which was asked for a building grant. The grant was refused on the extraordinary ground that . the standard air measurement of tho existing accommodation was in excess of the number of scholars. The attitude of tho Department would have- been perfectly sound were it at all times possible to limit the size of the classes to the standard air measurements of their respective rooms. But it is not possible to do so. Classes vary in size. The arrangement of tho classes depends upon the size of tho teaching staff. The Minister surely knows that. At any rate, his advisers—some- of whom wo hope have had practical teaching experience to guide them—ought to know. Overcrowded classrooms are fatal to efficiency and a menace to the health of the children. Tho Karori School has been built on modern lines and is more spacious than Die average, but this irritating display of red I ape on the part of the Dciiartment, if pursued, will soon make- it as overcrowded as so many other Stale school buildings already are. As one of the sneakers put it at tho Board's meeting, what is wanted is the exercise of a little common sense. The fact that the Wellington Board has decided to arrange for a Dominion Cnnfsrence- of Education Boards to dismiss various matters relating to their administrative functions and authority suggests that the Department's methods of dealing with their requirements leaves something to be desired.