M.P. Wants To Abolish U.E.

University Entrance should be abolished, says Mr. J. G. Edwards, M.P. for Napier and a member of Labour's "New Look" contingent.

Edwards made this claim at a recent meeting organised [unclear: by] the University Labour Club. He was speaking to an [unclear: audience] of 20 students on "Education and the Labour Party".

[unclear: Emphasising] that this was his [unclear: personal] view, Edwards went on to [unclear: say] that admission to university [unclear: should] be determined by good work [unclear: n] school rather than by success in [unclear: ams].

He claimed that "since people [unclear: on] enter university anyway when [unclear: ey] are 21, it is unfair to make [unclear: oolchildren] sit the U.E. exam. [unclear: Many] people who would make good [unclear: students] have to take subjects for [unclear: W. E.] that they are not interested [unclear: i] and don't intend studying at [unclear: university]."

Edwards explained that Labour [unclear: irty] policy is to spend more [unclear: money] at lower levels of education, so as to have pupils better [unclear: prepared] by the time they get to [unclear: university]. one way of achieving [unclear: is] higher standard at lower levels [unclear: as] to give primary school teach-[unclear: s] a chance to study for a degree [unclear: n] full pay.

He also argued that training [unclear: colleges] should be built where the [unclear: cruits] are and not necessarily [unclear: ear] the universities. If necessary, [unclear: universities] should be taken to [unclear: aining] colleges, as had already [unclear: een] done at Hamilton and Pal-[unclear: erston] North.

The salary scale for teachers [unclear: should] be increased in proportion to qualifications, and [unclear: ay] in the initial years of teaching [unclear: should] be higher. In order to get [unclear: ore] out of the teachers, a Labour government would provide [unclear: schools] with clerical assistants, to [unclear: believe] teachers of much of their [unclear: outine] work and leave them with [unclear: more] time to teach, he said.

Dealing with university education, Edwards, an M.A. graduate [unclear: rom] Victoria and a former school [unclear: eacher]. criticised bonded bursaries. [unclear: He] said that Labour's policy was [unclear: o] provide more and better bur-[unclear: aries] without tags.

He also said better accommodation must be provided for students. Poor housing conditions were the [unclear: ause] of many academic failures. [unclear: His] party's policy was that the government should build more [unclear: halls] of residence instead of leaving [unclear: t] all to the churches.