242 THEISLAND ACADIANS

Evangeline Regional High School in 1960. Francis Blanchard Collection.

The appointment of an Attendance Officer and the granting of Family Allow- ance, | believe, has been a forward step in education in this province. It is pleasing to note a very marked improvement in attendance in this inspectorate under the new system. In fact some of the schools are now overcrowded and hardly able to accommodate the increased number of pupils in attendance. It is true there are still some children of school age not going to school and trying to circumvent the work of the Attendance Officer, but as time goes on I believe the children will gradually become accustomed to attend regularly as they begin to realize that they cannot absent themselves from school with impunity as they have done in the past.”’

The provincial government inaugurated a program of subsidies for the construction and renovation of schools in 1947°°. The program was welcomed enthusiastically in the school districts. Throughout the Island, taxpayers were able to take advantage of this government support in order to make improvements to their old schools or to construct new ones.

Ever since the turn of the century, administrators in Public Edu-