Progress in Education

Te Ao Hou, December 1956, Page 48

Progress in Education In his annual report tabled recently in the House of Representatives, the Director of Education, Dr C. E. Beeby, stated that the age gap between Maori and European children reaching Form II and passing on to secondary school is steadily shrinking. Maori children, by and large, were now reaching Form II and passing on to post-primary school not more than a year older than European children, he said. Eighty-two per cent of Maoris who left Maori primary schools at the end of 1954 went on to post-primary school, as did 74 per cent of those leaving public schools. The combined percentage was 78, compared with 76 in the previous year. Many Maoris do very well at post-primary schools, says the report, but others, for one reason or another, do not fulfil the promise they gave in their primary courses, particularly when they attend large post-primary schools. Head teachers of Maori schools frequently express concern at the large number of promising pupils who leave post-primary school before they have completed even two years, and drift into seasonal and unskilled occupations. It is suggested that the problem would repay more intensive study.