Must Come After Junior Schools

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 352, 12 May 1928, Page 13

Must Come After Junior Schools

REPLY TO UNIVERSITY GOVERNMENT’S VIEWPOINT Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. T , The Minister of Education, the Hon. f" i ** right, to-day released the reply lie has forwarded in connection with the resolution passed at the recent meeting of the Auckland District Court of Convocation. The resolution drew attention to the inadequate provision for the education ol university students, and submitted a comparison between the expenditure on secondary schools. The Minister says th&t he has been advised that the comparisons made of the expenditure were not on a fair basis. ’ For example,” he says, “you took the roll number of pupils in grammar schools at the end of the year which is considerably less that the roll number at the beginning of the year, and you compared that number with the total number of students attending Auckland University College, most of whom are only part-time students.

Again you have left out of account the fact that secondary school pupils arc in attendance at least five hours a day for nearly 40 weeks throughout the year, whereas the average hourly attendance of university students must be very much less.

“Further, it must be considered that the first concern of the Government is to provide elementary education in primary schools, and that the next claim is to provide secondary or high school education. The claim for free university education must be subsidiary to the other two, and the Government could not be expected to grant the same facilities for free university education as it grants for primary and secondary education.