The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1886.

Kumara Times, Issue 3073, 8 September 1886, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1886.

At the request of the Kumara School District Committee, we to-day publish Inspector Smith's Reports of his Inspection of the Kumara and Rnngiriri Schools on the 26th and 27th July respectively, also, by Mr Woodward, the head teacher of the Kumara School, a list of the children who have been most irregular in their attendance at the Kntnara State School since the commencement of the new quarter on the Ist July. Whilst the Inspector's reports are of a most satisfactory character, and will be gratifying to the parents and guardians of the children attending these schools, as they are to the teachers and School Committee, it is a matter of deep concern to the latter that so many children should be allowed by their parents and guardians to absent themselves so frequently from the school. The head teacher's list, published in another column, shows that many of the children whose names appear in it are not complying with the law of the colony, which requires that every child shall attend school at least thirty days in each quarter. At their meeting on Monday last, the. School Committee resolved to direct the attention of paronts and guardians to this fact, and now, by public announcement, give notice of their intention to strictly enforce the clauses of the " Education Act," which makes the attendance of children over five years of age compulsory for at least thirty days in each quarter. This laxity on the part of the parents and guardians seems the more culpable in Kumara, where the standards of tuition and scholarship have been frequently proved to rank among the highest in the colony, and therefore it is so much labour thrown away on those who only attend a few days now and again during the quarter or ha'f-ycar. We trust, for the parents' own sakes and that of their children, that the Committee will not be called upon to put the law into force, else the parents will bo liable to fine, as well in years to come to feel the remorse which may arise from the present in many cases wilful neglect of sending their children to school.