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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11 FEBRUARY, 1880.
GOVERNMENT EDUCATION, HONGKONG.
PRIZE DISTRIBUTION AT GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS, AND A GRANT-IN-AID SCHOOL, 5TH AND 7TH FEBRUARY, 1880.
The following is extracted from the Local Papers.
His Excellency Governor HENNESSY, C.M.G., went on the 5th instant, to the Government School at Wan-tsai, to give away the rewards and prizes for the Masters and Pupils of the Government Schools (outside the Central School) in this Colony. The building was filled to overflowing, many of the Chinese inhabitants of the neighbourhood being present.
His Excellency arrived at 3 P.M., when some 200 boys, representing the prize boys of 29 different Government Schools, were in waiting, together with their Masters. When the Governor had taken his seat, the Inspector of Schools, Dr. EITEL, addressed His Excellency as follows:-
May it please Your Excellency, The Masters and pupils of the Government Schools of this Colony, outside the Central School, are here assembled to-day to receive the rewards and prizes alloiterl to them for the year 1879. The rewards to be given to the Masters are grants of $25 and $15 which have been sanctioned, since the year 1877, by the Secretary of State for annual distribution among those Masters of Government Schools whose schools are classed for the year as "very good” or as "good" respectively. In the present case I have, on the basis of my periodical inspections and of the annual examinations, determined upon the following classification.
I. ANGLO-CHINESE SCHOOLS. 1. Very good.
Sai-ying-phun, Mr. Fung Fú. Wong-nai-ch'ung, Mr. Ch'an Man-kwong.
2. Good.
Wán-tsai, Mr. Lo Sik-ling.
II. CHINESE SCHOOLS.
1. Very good.
Sheung-wán, Mr. Lau Sui-shang. Stanley, Mr. Ng Chéuk-ts'ün. Girls School, M. Lóung King-hám.
2. Good.
Há wán, Mr. Leung Tsán-chi.
Tang-lung-chau, Punti, Mr. Wong Kon-ting. Tang-lung-chau, Hakka, Mr. Tsang Wai-hing. Shau-ki-wan, the late Mr. Shing Ng hàng Yau-ma-ti, Mr. Ch'an I-hing.
Sai-ying-p'ún, Hakka, Mr. Ip Ch'éung-shin.
Your Excellency is aware that since your arrival in the Colony three schools for English teaching have been added to the one school, that of Aberdeen, previously existing. We have therefore new four schools, outside the Central School, in which English is being taught by the Government. Taking these Anglo-Chinese Schools first, I found that the English School Kept by Mr. Fung Fu in Third Street, Sai-ying-p'ún, had to be classed as the best school. I am sure that the results which the examination of this school disclosed are fully equal to the results of teaching given at the Centrul School in corresponding classes. But I must explain that this school was at work all the year on the optional principle which, with Your Excellency's permission, I applied to this school as an experiment. that the school was opened at the beginning of 1879 with some 61 pupils, that at first the parents of 15 pupils declared their wish that their children should be taught both English and Chinese, whilst the remainder declared for English teaching only, and that after a few months, however, with our solitary exception, all the parents declared for exclusively English teaching. I examined the children in accordance with the Standards of the Grant-in-aid Schedule, and I was surprised by the exceedingly high results they obtained, although I was aware that Mr. FUNG Fu, the master, who has had a Col- legiate education in America, was a thoroughly competent teacher. The next best Anglo-Chinese School I found to be that of Wong-nai-ch'ung under Mr. CH'AN MING KWONG, who, in accordaure with the wishes of the parents, has all the year through been teaching both English and Chinese to the same boys. It is satisfactory to know that the enlightened inhabitants of that little hamlet, who first stipulated for the introduction of English teaching in their school, continue to pay one-fourth of the .