Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 27, 1900. School Attendance.

Manawatu Herald, 27 November 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 27, 1900. School Attendance.

At the last meeting of the Wanganui Education Board Mr Easther, Truant Inspector, presented a report in which the following curious paragraph occurs : ~" That a large number of cases dismissed and withdrawn was due to a conflict between sections 8 and 7 of The School Attendance Act, section 3 stating an exemption certificate was required, and section 7 permitting the Magistrate, if the child was not in good health, to disthe case, which was frequently done on defendant's own statement that the child was not well enough to attend. Under such circumstances it was almost impossible to obtain a conviction in some '"ourts." Mr Easther misjudges his duties very aoriously if he imagines that it is his whole duty to secure convictions against parents whose children are absent from school owing to illhealth. He has also a preconceived notion that every parent who pleads illnes? as an excuse for his child's absence commits wilful perjury to save a fino of two shillings, as the conduct of the Court is to put each defendant upon his or her oath Ihe absurdity of suggesting that a doctor's certificate is necessary to acquaint the Court, is only one of those ideas that emanate from persons who are receiving public money. Any person here would be practical y ru'ned if the Act really contemplated this being enforced. At present the practice is fair and simple, and the parent, by not getting the chairman's exemption, has to appear at Court to explain the reason for his child's absence from school, a penalty pretty stiff on a working-man without any further punishment. It has been very evident that in this district very little attention has been paid to save the parents trouble. Mr Easther has simply issued summonsos frora a copy of the school roll, the roll itself never being produced, and we have frequently reported cases heard in Court where parents who have been summoned have informed the headmaster and been told by him that it would be all right, and cases indeed where the chairman's memory has also failed him. Parents have no redress for time lost defending such actions, and the feeling that has been provoked has been very disadvantageous to the school. Mr Easther's duties are unnecessary, as he simply acts on information supplied by the head teacher, and his duty could be UvmUu- performed by the teacher than

the Truant Inspector. Mr kasther is not correct in • vi'ing that there is a conflict in tho A'.-t, as clause 3 supposes that there are many reasons for the child's absence besides ( truancy, which can be permitted by the Chairman oi' the Committee, sickness being one, but clause 8 states that the certificate of exemption frees the holder from the operation of the provisions of this Act in respect of the child named therein. There is nothing mentioned in clausp 3 about any penalties, and it is merely m av/i.:.ir.o 7 c!.-:ire pointii.t; out how the penalties set out further on in the Act, can be escaped. The actual clause relating to penalties is the clause 7 which Mr Easther tries to suggest conflicts with clause 8. The side no to to the clause reads " Penalty on pn - • inconsistent attendance of ?'-h'.-i ••••.* ' and the clause recites " Wh..-;- a-ny cbi rl required by this Act to attend a public school has been enroled in the register of a public school, and, being in good health " shall be liable to a penalty of two shillings for every such week of absence, There is nothing said about a punishment for a child's absence whose health is not good, and it would be ridiculous if there were, as the school would not be improved with the presence of children in ill-health. There is no conflict and the instances where Mr Easther succeeds in getting convictions show how little the law is understood in those Courts. Mr Easther suggests that these words "being, in good health" should be eliminated from the Act to enable him to secure more convictions. He summoned a parent for a, child's absence from school, ast court day, when the father had actually written to the chairman, who lives some mi es from his residence, for an exemption certificate and who did not reply to the application. The Truant Inspector wou d apparently like the application to be made personally, and thus give a hard-working man a ride of twelve miles Surely all this could be obviated if the teachers had to appear before the Court, instead of a man whose only evidence is that so-and-so's name appears on the school roll as absent for so many half days in the week ending on such a date. The B-ip-d may perhaps find, in time, that a- .«j)od An attendance can be secursd at the public schools at less expense than is now being devoted to secure that object.