SCHOOLS ON WHEELS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 September 1939, Page 11

SCHOOLS ON WHEELS

CANADIAN EDUCATION SCHEME. J CATERING FOR SPARSELY- i SETTLED DISTRICTS. TORONTO. ' In the more sparsely settled districts of Northern Ontario, education is made available to the children of setters and railway employees by means of travel-; ling schools. These consist of railway coaches which have been specially fit-, ted and equipped as a class room and are taken from one Community to an-' other by passing trains. The success of these “schools on wheels” is indi-, cated by a report' of the CanadianPacific Railway Company which states that the majority of pupils attending their schools will pass into the higher' grades at the commencement of the : Fall term. The local school inspector,; who keeps in close touch with the progress of the pupils, expressed himself , well pleased with the year’s work. One student, Joseph Thibault, Xvho received his educational groundwork in the company’s unique classroom, was subsequently awarded nine prizes at a Sudbury college. Though of; French origin, he captured a second prize in English, his first knowledge of the language having been acquired bn the car. Four other students were promoted with honours. When the first of the school cars were put into operation in 1926,- only four per cent of the class came from English-speaking homes. Most of them could neither read nor write the English language. An official report states that “since the company donned ‘the cap and gown’ and spread the ‘three R’s’ along the right-of-way, there has been a sweeping change.”