OATH BY TEACHERS

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21371, 15 March 1941, Page 11

OATH BY TEACHERS

INSTITUTE’S CRITICISM “ QUITE UNNECESSARY ” , (By Telegraph. —Press Association) WELLINGTON, Friday “The Educational Institute executive deplores the decision of the Auckland Education Board to ask teachers to reaffirm the oath of allegiance,” said the president, Mr D. Forsyth, in an address to the Wellington branch tonight. “ These teachers have already taken the oath, which is binding so long as they shall live. To ask for reaffirmation is to question the honesty and integrity of all who have already taken the oath and is casting a slur on the patriotism of the teachers of the Auckland Province.

“Teachers’ patriotism all over New Zealand is being shown not in words, but in deeds. Teachers everywhere are taking a keen and active part in local patriotic activities, and many are on active service. Surely, in order to prove their loyalty, they are not expected to advertise their deeds. Surely, too, it should be the duty of the board to protect its employees, not cast unnecessary suspicion on their patriotism. “The action of the Auckland Education Board may have been well intentioned,” said Mr Forsyth, “but it will not meet with the approval of teachers, either in Auckland or elsewhere, and it seems to the executive to have been quite unnecessary.”