PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1089, 26 April 1913, Page 3

PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

GOVERNING THEIR CON-

DUCT,

qualification FOR EXEMPTION.

Commenting on the position of private schools in the Wanganui Education Board’s district, Mr Pirani, chairman of the Board, in his annual report said : “i he terms of the Education Act governing the conduct of . these schools do not appear to be sufficiently exacting. From the point of view of modern education, it is not enough that a pupil should be receiving efficient and regular instruction. The school environment, the apparatus, furniture, buildings, and sanitary arrangements, as well as the details of lighting, heating, and ventilation, should also be effective, and no certificate of general exemption should be given until the Board’s inspector is satisfied regarding each and all of these points. It is a question, too, whether persons desirous of conducting private schools should not be required to submit to educational tests evidencing qualifications adequate for the nature of the teaching undertaking. If efficiency be the ultimate test of the value of the institutions in an organised State, there should be no exceptions making efficiency possible. The Board’s inspectors had visited 15 private schools, the number of pupils present on the occasion of the visits being 1085.