Sweeping Educational

Reforms

Investigator Surveys Fiji Set-up

ANEW Zealand education officer, Mr.

F. B. Stephens, who recently made a survey of the educational set-up in Fiji, has made many sweeping recom mendations to the Fiji Legislative Coun cil. Mr. Stephens's report is* a long one, but some of his more important recom mendations are as follows: He considers that the Government should at once take over all Fijian dis trict schools, all Indian Committee schools, the Colonial Sugar Refining Co., Ltd.’s schools and the Vatukoula European school. Ultimately the Govern ment should take over all schools in the Colony. The principle of erecting small schools for Europeans and part-Europeans should cease and in areas where there is no effective European education at pre sent arrangements should be made for such children to enter the Fijian or mixed schools in that district. English as the medium of instruction should be devel oped at the earliest possible moment.

Compulsory education should be insti tuted first in those districts which already have adequate facilities, and ultimately in the Colony as a whole. Queen Vic toria School and the Indian Boys’ Sec ondary School should be enlarged; a post primary technical school should be erected in the Suva area to cater for 200 boys and a small number of girls; two of the pre sent Provincial Schools should eventually become post-primary agricultural schools; a third should become a Fijian trade school.

Mr. Stephens believes it of prime im portance to establish at an early date, a single Government training college for all teacher trainees. Until this Government college has been built grants to existing institutions should continue. Revision of the present grading system in order to take more account of teaching ability and length of service is recommended. All teachers should be required to serve at least 12 months in any one school and that, at least once every two years, re fresher courses should be held.

The post of Assistant-Director of Edu cation should be abolished, and the Department should be divided into two sections—a Technical Section, under a Chief Inspector, and an Administrative Section, under an Administrative Secre tary. Education officers who would be responsible for inspection of schools should be attached to each administrative district in the Colony. The number of organising teachers should be increased and their salary scales placed at a level higher than those for ordinary teachers.

The capital expenditure envisaged by Mr. Stephens amounts to £99,000 for the years 1945 and 1946: £55.000 for 1947 and 1948; £35.000 for 1949; and £22.000 for the following 10 years. It is recommended that the extra money which will be needed should be collected by means of a pro perty rate levied on the occupier of pro perty. It is considered that by 1950 a rate of 2d. in the £ should be sufficient to cover the necessary expenditure The Samoan Administration, at the end of September, called for Samoan re cruits for a labour battalion to do steve doring work in island war bases. The rate of pay offered did not seem attrac tive enough to the Samoans, and the response was unsatisfactory. The Ad ministration consequently abandoned the

recruiting campaign.