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at once, that the Managers, who previously acknowledged the need of a change in the direction above mentioned, but were afraid that the changes might result in such a serious diminution of the grants that they would be unable to continue their Schools, are all willing to continue working their Schools under the revised Scheme. I may also add that in most of the Schools and especially in the Boys-schools, affected by these changes, the percentage of passes obtained in 1884, as compared with the percentage obtained in 1883, has been considerably reduced, the diminution ranging from 2 to 37 per cent.
It was owing to this diminution in the earning power of the purely Chinese Schools that the sum voted for Grants-in-Aid ($17,000) has not only proved amply sufficient but left an unexpended balance of over $2,000 in hand. The following details may also be given as illustrative of the effects which the above mentioned changes in the Grant-in-Aid Scheme have so far brought to the surface. The number of children brought under examination in the years 1883 and 1884 respectively under each separate Standard of Schools in Class I. (giving a purely Chinese education), and the sums earned by them (apart from Capitation Grant and Needlework) under each Standard, are exhibited by the subjoined Table.
SCHOOLS IN CLASS I.
Standards.
Number of Scholars examined, in 1883.
Amount earned by passes in 1883.
Number of Scholars examined, in 1884.
Amount earned by passes
in 1884.
I.
428
1,585
76
146
II.
607
3,504
557
3,124
III.
305
2,065
470
2,208
IV.
76
520
120
840
V.
17
126
26
230
VI.
50
2
24
Total,
1,438
$7,850
1,251
$6,572
14. It will be seen from the above figures that the number of children brought under ex- amination in Schools of Class I. was in 1884 smaller by 187 than in 1883. This reduction in the number of children was caused by accidental circumstances unconnected with the changes made in the Scheme. It will further be seen that, whilst in 1883 out of 1,438 children as many as 428 were examined in Standard I., only 76 were examined in that same Standard, which in- dicates, what I otherwise observed as a fact, that the teachers, considering the value of Standard I. too low, put into Standard II., the higher one, children who would otherwise have been placed in the lower Standard. This is a result of the above changes, by no means to be deplored, for it is one which rather tends to raise the general standard of education. It will further be seen from the above figures that the teachers crowded as many children as they could into Standards III. and IV., so that, whilst in 1883 only 381 children were examined in these two Standards, as many as 590 were examined in the same Standards in 1884. This appears to be likewise a rather favourable result of the revision of the Scheme. It will finally be seen from the above Table that there was an increase in the number of children examined in Standard V. in 1884, as compared with the previous year, but a decrease in Standard VI. The amount of money earned in 1884 and 1883 by these Schools is, of course, in proportion to the number of children who were ex- amined, passed and failed, but it is obvious that the number of failures was greater in 1884 than in any previous year, which was exactly what was intended, and hence a decrease of $1,278 in the total amount of grants earned by this Class of Schools as compared with the amount earned in 1884. I need hardly add that the teachers, in crowding children into certain Standards, were not allowed to deviate from the strict rule of the Scheme that no scholar can be examined in a lower Standard than that under which he has been previously presented, nor in the same Standard unless he has failed to pass in two or more subjects. Although these details seem to indicate that the changes made in the Scheme have, as far as the year 1884 is concerned, on the whole worked beneficially, it will be advisable to watch the results of these changes for one or two years longer before making a decision as to any further modification of the Scheme. The actual working of the Scheme depends to a great extent on the tactics adopted by the teachers in endeavouring to obtain as high a grant as possible, and these tactics are adopted by them without regard to the bearing such tactics may have on the general interests of education in the Colony.
15. As to the remainder of the Grant-in-Aid Schools, there was a signal failure in composition in the upper classes of St. Joseph's College and, to a minor extent, also in the Berlin and Basel Mission Girls-schools. On the other hand, the lower classes of St. Joseph's College, the Diocesan School and