Charity accused of bias against boys

A charitable trust that dishes out hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to promising students has been accused of sexual discrimination.

Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter has slammed the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust (Rect) for what he claims is discrimination against male students.

Other principals have also raised concerns, saying the trust's selection process and criteria are flawed.

The trust gave out 51 awards to former secondary school students in the Rotorua region this year, of which less than two-thirds went to male students, according to Mr Grinter.

Award recipients each receive $2250 a year towards their tertiary studies for a maximum of four years.

Mr Grinter has met with the school's board of trustees over the issue as there had been a similar trend in previous years.

"The board is unified in its belief that the domination of these awards by female students is unjustified, unreasonable and morally wrong," he said.

"This is public money that the trust is entrusted with for the best of our community.

"I personally don't think that 70 per cent of awards [being given to] girls is an allocation in the best interests of the community."

At least two other principals, John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh and Rotorua Lakes High School principal John Ellis, have also expressed concerns about the awards.

Mr Walsh said he believed the trust's criteria were "seriously flawed".

He has suggested the trust allow principals to select which students should receive awards, with the number of awards for each school determined by its size.

The trust's secretary, Stuart Burns, said principals were notified about three weeks ago that a meeting would be held this week to review the process.


Selection panel member Grahame Hall said it was not surprising so many young women received awards, as they made up 60 per cent of the applicants.


However, if the trust could not "get the scholarships to work" it might need to look at other ways to spend the money.Rotorua Girls' High School principal Annette Joyce said the awards were always given to those students who displayed academic excellence, based on their performance in the previous year's exams.

"[The trust] has tried so hard to do it in a way that was fair for the students in this district," she said.

Of the 51 awards, 20 went to Rotorua Girls' High School students, 10 to Rotorua Boys' High School, eight to Western Heights High School, six to Rotorua Lakes High School, four to John Paul College and three to Reporoa College.

Rect was established in 1994 in the wake of the privatisation of Rotorua Electricity Limited.

It is one of the largest charitable trusts in New Zealand and has paid out more than $45 million to the community since its establishment.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)