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PARENTS SEEK BIG INQUIRY 0 EDUCATION
.44,404.44 4 4‘44444
/
2
HAPPY BUS LOAD
HOBART.—A full-scale inquiry into the needs of primary and secondary education throughout Australia has been sought by the Federation of Parents and Friends of Catholic Schools of Tasmania. The request was included in a letter sent to the Prime Minister (Mr. Menzies) by the Federation, which represents the parents of almost 11,000 children enrolled at 51 Catholic schools in Tasmania. Signed by the president (Mr. D. A. Kearney), the letter states the object of the inquiry. would be to formulate a -blueprint for the future development of our both system, educational State and non-State." Specific requests are that the inquiry seek ways and means of: • Providing enough money for State and non-State schools to function properly. • Giving bursaries to all who would benefit from secondary education to the Leaving Certificate ( Schools Board) and Matriculation levels. the • Granting teachers status and salary in keeping with their role in!, the community. According to the Federation proposal, the Commonwealth and States would act together in conducting the inquiry. The letter was occasioned by a paper, "The CommonEducation," wealth a n d tabled by the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives last November 5. "The Federation notes with disappointment," the letter stated, "that only an indirect and passing reference is made in the paper to the part played by non-State schools, despite the fact that these schools educate some 25 per cent of Australian children." The _stage had now been reached, it continued, where the non-State F,-hools were no lonP:er able adequately to cope with Pressures arising from increased numbers and the need to pravide for higher standards and greater diversity in education. These pressures were having more harmful effects on non -State schools "for the simple reason that their ability to cope with them is related directly to the ability of parents to bear the extra costs involved." Parents of children, attending non-State schools, in addition to paying taxes which support the State education system, "are mak-
ing tremendous sacrifices to maintain a system of education which they believe is essential fo: the material, and spiritual intellectual welfare of their children."
Public Tribute The letter points out that Mr. Menizes and many other distinguished persons have paid public tribute t3 the Catholic. education system. While applauding Commonwealth assistance to universities, which are State responsibilities, the letter states that "the Commonwealth's constitutional responsibility in the sphere of tertiary education is no greater and no less than its responsibility in the spheres of primary and secondary e ducation.
for one and disclaim any such responsibility for the other. "Indeed, it can be said that in its policy of expending large sums on the development of tertiary educatian and contributing nothing at the primary and secondary levels, the Commonwealth is acting like a rich man who gives a beggar a silk hat but leaves the rest of his body in tatters." The Federation agreed with the Prime Minister's statement that the States should retain the chief responsibility in the matter of education. But, the letter states. direct grants from the Commonwealth to the States for educational purposes would not run contrary to this principle."
Father John Luemmen, SAC., collecting children from the North-West ( at present at Point Peron Camp School ) at St. Mary's Cathedral after evenir,g Mass last Sunciay. It has become an annual feature to invite Mission children from the North-West, when
I
a ttending Point Peron Camp School, to the Mission Centre in Riverton to meet their brothers and sisters and friends who are boarding at the Mission Hostels. The 21 visiting children were entertained to a "family tea" for 60 people by the Matron of Villa Maria — Miss E. Little.
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Captive Bell ions Released By TEACHERS HAD C ommunists NO SALARY Responsible
"The Commonwealth cannot logically assume a special financial responsibility
SAIGON, VIETNAM: FATHER JOSEPH NGUYEN HUONG
TIE N,
THREE
SISTERS
OF CHARITY AND A LAY GIRL HELPER
BREST, France.—Teachers in the Catholic schools in the Department of Finistere have staged a one-day strike to protest against government delays in salary payments. SIMILAR STRIKES HAVE TAKEN PLACE EARLIER IN OTHER PARTS OF FRANCE. A parents' organisation here urged parents to support the teachers' move by keeping their children home on the day of the strike. The striking teachers' union, part of the French Confederation of Christian Workers, sent a resolution t o government officials complaining that a large number of teachers have not been paid in the four and half months and that physical education teachers have not been paid since the Debre school law went into effect more than three years ago. The teachers' resolution also complained that the matters of family subsidies and overtime pay have not yet been settled. The Debre school law, passed in 1959, offers four plans of direct State support
for Catholic schools. The plans bring varying degrees of State control. The Debre law superseded the 1951 law which granted subsidies to parents of Catholic school pupils. The 1951 law has been kept in force to assist parents of children attending Catholic schools which have not yet signed agreements under the Debre law. It was recently give an 18 -month extension. In the last days of the 1962 national campaign, an association of parents of children attending Catholic schools appealed to Premier Georges Pompidou to press for a speed-up in the administration of the Debre law. In 1961, about 16 per cent of France's primary and secondary school pupils were in the country's 13,800 private schools, 93 per cent of which are Catholic. About 90 per cent of the nation's Catholic schools have signed agreements under the Debre law,
—ALL OF ST. JOSEPH'S LEPER HOSPITAL IN BEN SAN— WERE
RELEASED COMMUNIST VIETCONG GUERRILLAS AFTER 25 DAYS OF CAP-
BY
TIVITY. Their captors led them on a three-hour march through the forest and left them by the roadside after nightfall. The next morning the five made their way, first on foot and then by ca.-, 25 miles to S aigon. They arrived at the Convent of the Sisters of Charity here, thin but well. The priest was wearing his cassock and the Sist2rs were still in the white habits they were weal ing when captured. Sister Rose Gaillard, superior of the Ben San community, was the oldest of the five prisoners. Born in France, she has spent 26 years waking for the poor and sick in Vietnam. The other two Sisters are Vietnamese. Sister Mathildes, has been a Sister of Charity for 22 years and Sister Marie Etienne for four years. Their lay helper, Catherine Chau, is 23. Throughout their captivity the five were kept under
close guard by three soldiers and a woman. On the day of their capture they were obliged to walk through the forest, fields and shallow rivers from moning until 11 at night with a halt during the aftelnoon. Part of the day they had to walk blindfolded, each led by a Vietcong soldier.
The prisoners were given seven lengthy propaganda lectures with many references to Cuba. Their captors described themselves as the army of the "National Liberation Front for South Vietnam." One Sister was told: "You w ere taken by mistake." The prisoners were also told they were "invited guests." but were accused of plotting espionage. T h e Vietcong blamed them because they had done some shopping for food at the request of the soldiers assigned by the government to guard their hospital. This military guard was stationed after the Vietcong had raided and pillaged the leper hospital twice in 30 months. The Vietcong demanded that the Sisters "send the soldiers away?" although the nuns -have no authority over the military. In captivity "we were not
ill-treated and they talked t hreateningly to us only once," Sister Rose Gaillard said. The Vietcong had locallymade clothing given to the Sisters so they could wash their bedraggled white habits. "Every evening the five of us said the Rosary in Vietnamese together and sang the Salve Regina in our s traw -roofed cabin," the Sister added. "Fortunately, Father Tien had his New Testament with him as well as his breviary, so each one of us could make a spiritual reading daily," she said. The Sisters have returned to their hospital. Father Tien, who suffers from tuberculosis, is having a medical check-up here in Saigon. Ordained four year ago, he was about to leave Ben San, where he had been on temporary duty to replace the regular chaplain, when he was captured. 0 , 40,4#0.4.4.44.4.4.4#0#4.41 4 /".4,4,444,4.4
1• THE QUARTERLY CONFERENCE of the Clcrgy of the Metropolitan area will be held in the Chapter Hall. Vieflria Square, at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 8. 11. 11,44•04.4.441.444,4•044.4.44`044,44,4.441