View report page

52
20. CONTINUATION SCHOOLS.
There are no Continuation Schools in the Area.
21. EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PERSONS.
(i) and (ii) The conditions of employment of children and young
persons in the Area and the work of the Juvenile Employment
Bureau is very fully set out in the appended report by Mr. R.
Dempsey, the Juvenile Employment Officer:
"The year commenced with a very favourable outlook and it
was hoped that before the close the troubles of unemployment would
have reached their peak position and show a decided improvement
in industrial progress. This was not to be. By the middle of the
year it was evident that matters were becoming much worse and
the staff of the Bureau were overwhelmed with young people from
14 to 18 years of age who were being discharged from their employment.
Fewer vacancies were being notified by employers as the
year proceeded, so that by the time Christmas arrived the Bureau
found itself in the position of having on its registers large numbers
who had not been employed since the middle of the year, as well
as an unusually large number of children who had left school in
July, and had not yet obtained any employment. A special feature
was the great increase of boys and girls who had come from the
Secondary and Technical Schools, including many who had obtained
Matriculation and other Certificates which would normally secure
for their holders immediate employment.
"In view of the large numbers of juveniles who were unemployed
in this area, the Juvenile Employment Committee have organised
'Junior Instruction Centres at the Bureau, at which boys and girls
receiving Unemployment Benefit are obliged to attend in order to
receive benefit. They attend in morning and afternoon sections
for three hours each day.
"The syllabus includes the following subjects:—
Girls.—General Knowledge, Reading, Home Nursing, Firstaid
and Hygiene, Needlework, English, Letter-writing,
Singing, Organised Games and Housewifery.
Boys.—Organised Games, Current Topics, Literature, Practical
Arithmetic, Geography, History, Letter-writing,
English, Woodwork and Metalwork, Debating, General
Science, Shorthand, Brushmaking and Boot Repairing.