The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1913. EDUCATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 28, 3 October 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1913. EDUCATION.

The Education Department's annual report has many interesting features, 'not least important of which is the I indication of the growth of the policy I of diverting the cost of practically all education to the shoulders of the genrid taxpayer. The functions of our State primary schools have been very greatly extended of later years, and tho late Government amongst other things, decided that a system of medical inspection was a necessary departure and resolved to introduce it. It fell, however, to the present Minister for Education's lot to initiate the 1 new system, which is under the joint! control of the Departments of Education and Health. Four medical in- 1 specters commenced their work a year ago, and have since been engaged in! inspecting tho schools and the children in various education districts. The 1

report does not give any indication of

t!i" results of their examination, and in explanation it is stated that owing to the fact that the medical inspectors have had to work out a common standard for tho assessment of various de-

fects, that ihe teachers were new to tho work, and that the natural tendency at the outset was to bring only abnormal cases under the notice of ihe inspectors, it would bo misleading to publish even a summary of the work of tin- first few months. But the re-

port goes on to say, it is already evident that even with the limitation off two inspectors for each child in th© eight years from the agts of six to

fourteen, the number of officers em-

ployed at present is too small, and it will be necessary to increase their number very shortly. An pnrt of the inspectors' work is to train, the teachers to do their share of the] medical inspection. This individual training is supplemented by courses of; Saturday lectures given to the teach-j ers residing in or near each important centre visited. More extensive courses oi lectures are given to the training, college students. Notices are sent to the parents of children in cases where the inspection shows tJiat medical or dental treatment is required. No eases are treated by, the inspector. parents being recommended to take their children to their own medical ad

visors. The departure has been gen J orally welcomed by parents and local education authorities, and it is record od that in a large number of cases notification of defects has led to childre; being placed under medical treatment That in itself, 'is certainly a goor thing, though one cannot but wonde' sometimes where it will all end. Deal ing with primary education generally the report states that the cost pe head of population last year, inclucl ing the cost of new buildings, was 1"9d, an increase of four-pence in the cosi per head for. the previous year. Th' cost in England is lis lid per head in Wales 14s 10d, in Scotland 14s 2d

and in the United States 18s 7d. In eluding new buildings and classes fo manual instruction, the total oxpendt ture on primary education in the yea 1911-12 was £907.-"560. The averag weekly roll was 161,648, therefore th total cost of primary education pe pupil is £5 12s 3d. There is, how ever, a practical certainty that th cost will increase, though at'.this timwe compare favorably in comparison with such an up-to-date 'country a the United States, where the tota cost of primary ducation per pupi works out at £6 10s 4d. In New Zea laud about seventy per cent, of th total cost of primary education is fo teachers' salaries. The Dominion'.' annual outlay for each scholar on th> rolls of the several branches is give: a t: —Primary, £5 6s 7d ; secondary, £i 3s 6d ; continuation and technical, £ 13s lid j higher (University), £l3 3 Id. Each free-place pupil at second ary schools cost the public £lO 15s 5 last year. The country deserves som return for this great outlay.