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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, No 5. April 3 1975

5. What happens to bonded students?

5. What happens to bonded students?

At present student teachers receive allowances which are generally much higher than those paid to university or technical institute students. Student teachers receive these higher allowances because they bond themselves to work for the Education Department for a certain period as teachers, and they undertake to repay part of their allowances if they default on their bond obligations

STANZ, NZUSA and NZTISA will strongly resist any attempts to introduce the standard tertiary bursary on the cheap by lowering the pay of student teachers or worsening their conditions of employment.

The standard tertiary bursary should be introduced at first to cover all tertiary students except student teachers. Negotiations between the three national student organisations and the Department of Education would be held immediately to work out means of introducing the standard tertiary bursary to cover student teachers.

STANZ, NZUSA and NZTISA believe that the cost of training people for a profession (such as leaching) should be borne by the employer or employing authority which receives the benefit of this professional training, not be the individuals undertaking the training. The same principle should apply to those undertaking apprenticeships or trade training. The present system of training teachers by forcing them to bond themselves to the state is thoroughly inadequate.

It is a generally accepted principle that the older an more experienced a student is when he or she enters college, the belter a teacher he or she will become. Provision must be made for attracting people to the page break teaching profession by ensuring that they enjoy adequate remuneration during their training to meet their family and financial commitments.

However one group of bonded students who would definitely benefit from the introduction of the standard tertiary bursary are those on Health Department bonded bursaries such as physiotherapy students, occupational therapy students and nursing students studying at technical institutes.

These students' allowances range from $430 in the first year, to S475 in their second year, to $520 in their third year plus a boarding allowance of $480 if they are eligible. In exchange for these bursaries these students are bonded for two years. Once during their course they have to work unpaid in a hospital during their long vacation, usually between their second and third years of study. There is no guarantee of work once they have finished their training.

Not all of these students Can get Health Department bursaries, NZTISA, NZUSA and STANZ believe that it is essential that these students should be included in the standard bursary system as soon as it is introduced.