PUPIL TEACHERS' PAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 287, 28 August 1920, Page 7

PUPIL TEACHERS' PAY

Sir,-I read in The Dominion- that the Minister of Education is consulting the Teachers' Institute as to the b«t way to distribute the extra grant between tho highest certificated teachers. Sir, will you allow mo to put' in a word for us poor under-paid pupil teachers, especially those who live away from home? Our salary is .£;> 10s. per month, with an allowance of J:2 per mouth for board. Think of that. What an .utter disregard for tho increased cost of living. Seven or eight years ago the allowance was the same. "Who will board a young lady for 10s. a week? Nobody. The fact remains that we must pay from 2Gs. to 30s. per' week for board, which means the whole of our salary, leaving us .£2 per month for clothing and travelling expenses, also tram fares, which are a pretty big item. All pupil teachers have three or four years' secondary school education, with either matriculation, : civil service, or other exams.; some of them have a big part of tho "D" exam. The new Sixth Standard aided teachers have nothing; still they get their board and lodsing paid in full, niul in addition a hitrher .fcalarv than the pupil teachers. I think the lion. Minister of Education ought to consider this, so that we at least could be decentlv and warmly dressed in this cold weather. The Minister repeatedly Fays that lie wants as many as possible to enter the profession. Some weeks ago the Education Board called applications for a hundred pupil teachers, but I am sure that if the pupil teachers are

not better paid for their services in the future, there will be a decrease instead of'an* increase.—T am, etc.. A WELLINGTON PUPIL TEACHER,