TWO SCHOOLS NOW UNDER BOARD

In keeping with unanimous decisions by the parents of the children attending them, two Maori schools will soon come under the control of the South Auckland Education Board. The Education Department has now agreed to the change. The schools are the Rangitane District High School, near Murupara, and the Waotu School, near Putaruru. This change in control is one of the first fruits of recommendations made to the Minister of Education by the special committee on Maori education late last year. The committee said it was not in the best interests of the Maori people for Maori and pakeha schools to exist side by side in the same small community, but it stressed that before making a change in control the Maori parents concerned should be fully consulted. In the case of the two schools which are now to come under the South Auckland Education Board all the parents had a chance to vote, and in both cases the vote was unanimous. Two-thirds of those who voted at the Rangitane School were Maoris, and the rest pakeha. It is expected that there will soon be other schools transferring to education board control, but the Education Department says that in all cases the safeguards for the children and for the Maori people suggested by the committee will be faithfully observed.