Thursday, February 29, 1268

this government has established a $1,000.00 scholarship which will enable some young Prince Edward Islander to take a year’s study after the Bachelor of Arts degree and thereby obtain a Bachelor of Library Science. We hope that this will serve as an added incentive for some of our Island young people to properly equip

themselves for a very worthwhile profession and one that is so badly needed in this Province at the present time.

The school superintendents, as I am sure you know, Mr. Speaker, report that the quality of work being done by the teachers throughout this Province measures up well to the average that has been obtained through the years. I, personally, am encouraged by the efforts being made by so many of our teachers to improve their qualifications and to obtain an up-grading of their licences by attending summer school courses and evening classes that are offered by our two universities in the Province. Just for the record, Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the House that of the 626 teaching licenses issued from April 1,1966 to March 31,1967, 492 or 78% of these were of the classification which we label Certificates 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

L. George Dewar: Were these all new licenses? Or re—issues? Hon. Gordon L. Bennett: These are new or re-issued licenses. Some Member: Upgrading the standards.

Hon. Gordon L. Bennett: This is right, during summer school attendance or during study at university in this twelve-month period. We still realize that further work has to be done and at the same time we recognize the fine work that has been done by many teachers with qualifications less than what I have mentioned. We are striving as a department, as I am sure my predecessor in office did, to en- courage by all means possible the up-grading of the licenses of our Island teachers.

During the past year I am happy to report that our Director of Curriculum, and his Curriculum Committee, have worked in very close collaboration and co- operation with their counterparts in the Atlantic Provinces. This is consultation that we all welcome; it has been long advocated, and it has resulted, I think, in a more uniform curriculum — not perfectly uniform of course — but a more uniform cur- riculum in this Province than we have enjoyed in days gone by.

A new pre-university course for Grade XII students has been approved and it will be effective during the school year of 1968-69. Under this new program Grade XII pre-university or the academic students in this Province will carry three compulsory subjects. English, mathematics, a science and they will be asked to choose three elective subjects which come from a very wide range including biology, chemistry, physics, economics, French, German, history, home economics, latin, and music. And I am very happy, as I am sure many members of this House are, to see, finally, that music has been recognized as an elective subject. We see so often where young people with a love and a proficiency in music find it necessary to abandon this when they get into the rather heavy academic subjects of Grade XII at time when music was not recognized as a subject — given credit in their high school work — and in their admission to university. We are very happy that music now will be recognized as a credit and can be carried as one of the elective subjects.

Revisions are also contemplated for the other high school programs apart from the Grade XII pre-university and it is hoped that we will have a complete revision of our high school program by 1970.

I cannot emphasize too strongly, Mr. Speaker, the extensive and the very effective programs being carried out in Physical Education and Alcohol Studies in this Province. These programs have expanded to such an extent, and the de- mands upon the director have become so great that I feel that an Assistant to the Director is urgently needed and we hope that such a person can be located and appointed to give some relief to Mr. Boswell, who certainly is carrying extremely well a very heavy load in this Province.

L. George Dewar: A good job he is physically fit. Hon: Gordon L. Bennett: It is so, he goes virtually night and day every day.

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