Books Report of the Commission on Education in N.Z.

Te Ao Hou, December 1962, Page 48

Books Report of the Commission on Education in N.Z. reviewed by John Booth In 1960 the government set up a Commission of Enquiry to look into all aspects of education in New Zealand. After hearing the views of many different people and seeing for themselves what was being done in schools all over the country, the Commission has brought out a massive and most valuable report of over eight hundred pages. Although the Department of Education acknowledges that there are many problems facing the 70,000 Maori children in New Zealand's schools, the Commission was not asked specifically to examine Maori education. Everywhere it looked, however, it saw that overhead above the ordinary difficulties facing every child and every school, Maori children and Maori schools had special difficulties that could only be overcome by making special provision for extra help, just as is done for other children who are handicapped in some way. Some Maoris might be worried by the thought that more money should be spent on their children than on most Pakeha children. They do not want any special privileges. This, however, is not how the educational authorities look at the situation because it is their job to give equal opportunity to every child, no matter where he comes from, and to help him climb as high as he can up the hill of education. Some groups are going to cost more to educate than others but, whatever the cost, the country cannot afford to have the talents of a large section of the population going to waste.