FOR TRADE LEARNERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 79, 28 December 1918, Page 8

FOR TRADE LEARNERS

CONTINUATION CLASSES

OLD SCHEME REVIVED

TEACHING CARE OF THE BODY

An amendment of tho Edur.nlion Act liist session mates it possible for I lie Clov-eriior-in-Council lo establish compulsory eoniinuation classes, which may or may not be technical classes, '[''ornioriy this power wns possessed by tho school' committees and the boards, but the result of Hint rule wa,s that there were only seventeen classes in the whole of the North Island, and no) a single class in the South Island. The Minister of Education intends to make use of tins additional power given to him under the law, and he intends to order the establishment of classes, preferably trade classes, for tho training of young persons engaged in skilled occupations, Instead of the old procedure by which the school committee- vns required to make the first move for the cstnbliehment of continuation classes, hnd I hen to make application. to the Education Board, and then, if the board recommended the classes, hnd to submit tho matter to the. Minister for hie approval, the Minister has now power, through the (joverr.or-in-Council to make regulations, not only for the holding of evening classes and compulsory attendance at them, but for the holding of day classes as well. The most attendance that can be compelled is one half-day during the daytime, and ono evening in any one week. There is a proviso that regulations requiring pnrt time attendance at dnytiiue classes shall apply only to such trades, businesses, occupations, or callings, or any part or parts thereof, and only within such districts as may bo prescribed. "I believe in trade classes to supplement workshop practice," said the Minister in a statement he made on this subject yesterday. "I hope that the directors of technical'schools will meet the employers and tho industrial associations and point out- to them the benefit ;cif part time day classes, and point out to them also that the establishment of these classes will merely bring us into line with Enprlan'l. South Australia, and Other parts where this reform has been tried A little later I hope to address these bodies with n view of showing to them how it is to the advantage ot the employer as well ae to the employee, and in tho interest' of industrial efficiency, to encourage this reform. _ "The first task of the recently appointed Superintendent of Technical Education Mr. La Trobe, will be to work out the 'details of the scheme, and prepare the regulations. These will in turn have to lx: submitted to Cabinet." Among the classes which will have nothing at all to do with technical schools will be those compulsory classes in first aid, physiology, home hygiene, and home nursing which the Minister intends to establish soon. These will be Wider /he control of education hounk Tiwr will have to be hold in the primary schools, Mssibly, also, in the high «<-hools, and, indeed, in any suitable Witlings which mav be available. As the classes are to lie'compulsory it would not be possible to house them in the technical schools. For the pnrnose of establishing these (•rasses the Minister wr ifiyen "vote on the Supplementary Estimates of .£HWO V In Wellington the Minister has been in touch with the chairman of the Mucation Board Kr. Forsyth. who happens, to have been an enthusiast in ambulance work, and who is strongly convinced of tlw need for this training for the voung. He has promised the Minister' to bring the scheme before his board, and he hones that classes will be established in Wellington during the enrlv part of next year. The compulsory powers of the Government extend only to voung persons from 15 to 17 years of ii<ye. The classes will not be added to the primary schools syllabus.