COST OF EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 19661, 14 September 1927, Page 10

COST OF EDUCATION

NEARLY FOUR MILLIONS BIG INCREASE IN PUPILS [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, September 13. The expenditure on education during the financial year ended March 31, 1927, amounted to £3,987,410, according to tho annual report of tho Minister of Education, tabled in the House to-day. That sum represented an increase of £92,382 on the figures for the preceding twelve months. This increase, the report points out, is a very moderate one when it is considered that it has to provide for the natural increase in the number of children in all classes of schools, and that during the year the department had to provide for largo payments of a nonrecurring nature on the site for a new agricultural college at Palmerston North, and lor the now Medical School in Dunedin

Much is written about the largo expenditure on education in this country (tho leporfc remarks). Comparisons are made between the present cost and the cost before tbo war, and tho question is frequently asked whether an ex : penditnre of four millions per annum is justified, when the pre-war expenditure was only £1,500,000. It must be remembered, however (states the report), that owing to tho depreciation in the real value of the pound the present expenditure is equivalent to only £2,500,000 in 1914. Further, the number of pupils in the schools has increased from 203,693 in ,1914 to 264,601 in 1926; and if tho increased numbers aro taken into account the increased cost would have been from one and a-half to two millions. Again, in every enlightened country there have been many developments in the past twelve years, and the provision of facilities for education has been greatly improved, particularly in tho direction of postprimary and higher education. New Zealand cannot afford to fall behind other countries. Consequently, in the period referred to, tho number of pupils attending secondary and other high schools has increased from 10,428 to 23,210, and tho number of university students has risen from 2.310 to 4,653. It has been necessary at the same time to increase the expenditure on _ students’ fees and allowances at training colleges from £25,246 to £123.250; on educational buildings from £122,940 to £550,954; and on superannuation for teachers from £17,000 to £71,428.