HONGKONG.
THE EDUCATIONAL REPORT FOR 1886.
339
No. 24
Presented to the Legislative Council, by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, on the 29th April, 1887.
87.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 25th March, 1887.
SIR, I have the honour to forward herewith the Annual Report on Education for the year 1886. 2. The total number of Schools, subject to supervision and annual examination by the Government, amounted, in the year 1886, to 90, as compared with 41 in 1876, and 16 in 1866. The total number of scholars, enrolled in Schools subject to Government supervision and examination, amounted to 5,844 in the year 1886, as compared with 2,922 scholars in the year 1876, and 1,870 scholars in the year. 1866. It appears therefore that both the number of Schools under Government supervision in the Colony and the number of scholars attending such Schools have been doubled every decade since 1866. 3. Since the autumn of the year 1884, when, in consequence of local disturbances, the attendance in all the Chinese Schools suddenly fell off and many children were, in a panic, removed from the Colony to their homes on the mainland, the annual increase of Schools and scholars has come to a standstill. A fresh panic occurred in spring 1886 when, in consequence of an idle rumour to the effect that the Schools under Government were required to furnish a number of boys and girls to be buried alive in the tunnel of the Taitam water works, as the success of those works depended upon such a human sacrifice, most of the Chinese Grant-in-Aid Schools in the centre of the town were emptied of scholars for several days, until a proclamation of the Registrar General allayed the excitement. The fact that such a silly rumour found credence with numbers of Chinese mothers, is a striking evidence of the lamentably low state of female education in the Colony. Previous to the year 1885 there was, year by year, a steady annual increase observable in the number of Schools and scholars. This increase amounted, on an average, to 6 Schools and 472 scholars every year. But although the population has to all appearance continued to increase year by year, and 5 new Schools were started in 1886 (balanced unfortunately by an equal number of Schools which had to be closed), the previous annual increase of Schools and scholars has come to a standstill since 1884, as the subjoined table will show in detail.
TABLE shewing INCREASE and DECREASE of SCHOOLS and SCHOLARS under Government Supervision.
1879, 1880,
1881,
1882,
1883,
1884,
1885,
1886,
Years.
Increase of
Decrease of
Schools.
Scholars.
Schools.
Scholars.
Schools.
Scholars.
50
3,460
308
63
3,886
7
426
72
4,372
486
80
5,182
810
87
5,597
415
90
5,885
388
.90
90'
5,833 5,844
52
10
4. Of the above mentioned 5,844 children, attending Schools under Government supervision in 1886, as many as 3,951 were placed by their parents in Missionary Grant-in-Aid Schools where they received a Christian education, whilst 1,893 children attended the Government Schools. Of the latter number, 610 attended the Government Central School, 910 attended the outside Schools in town and villages, kept by the Government, and 382 children were under instruction in the small Village Schools kept by natives and aided by the Government (by a monthly grant). Details will be found in Tables I and II appended to this Report.