奇查英國土民前年得二十八兆四十四萬八千三百塾學童其數難言在六千以外卽照本港現在色居民有壹拾四萬五千之多伸計每百人中得學童四名有奇去歲稍鵞增益按監院所見所聞本港華民儒教警鬱未入國家管轄者數亦頗多但統計香港一區諧般書館其中一爲聖約瑟書院有學童二百五十五名乃初服國家管轄者故國家管轄之書館學童之數較諧前年所有國家管轄之書館合而言之則見前年有學童三千一百五十二名去年有學童三千四百六十名以去較諸前年計每百名增至九名有奇惟國家義學學童向來遞年減少性會義學學童三年間遞年增益如是以此所增足補彼所減者但統計全港各聖會義學而歸國家察理者前年有一千界二十一名去歲則有一千四百一十七名按去歲實如前二年時則有二千八百七十名其中在國家義學肄業者前年有一千四百九十三名去歲則有一千四百五十三名但按大書院外所有義學國家所管理者查該學童之數於一千八百七十八年有二千五百四十四名面去
則按如常同列附入各圖院將大書院之數目卽照掌院允願者開列各數等圖應以畫一爲貴故做監理輔翼之各義學耳但學政衙門遞年大書院外所有以監督學院而設立管統輔者故監院目下只陳明國家於院以爲暫將大書院分理非監督學院一百五十三頁所因格外原由按敝監二唯一千八百七十九年香港轅報
於國名英土有國中僅得四名有奇耳按做監院約計本港孩童自六歲四名故於英國土民伸計前年時每百人中得初學學童不入書塾就學者或有一萬四千之多奇惟在香港各色居民兼計大小學童每百人有初學學童二百七十八萬二千四百五十
Secretary of State for the Colonies, and since, by Notification in Government Gazette (1879, p. 153), the Government Central School has been, for special and, I presume, temporary reasons, constituted an independent branch of the Education Department, not subject to the control of the Inspector of Schools, I naturally confine myself in this Report principally to the affairs of those schools outside the Government Central School which are either conducted or subsidized by the Government through the Inspector of Schools. Nevertheless, in order to preserve uniformity in the annual statistical records of the Education Department as a whole, I have included the statistics of the Central School, with the permission of the Headmaster, in the usual tables which will be found appended to this Report.
3. The total number of scholars subject to the supervision of the Government, outside the Central School, amounted to 2,870 in 1879, as compared with 2,544 in 1878. Of that number of 2,870 scholars, there were in 1879 attending Government Schools (outside Central School) 1,453 scholars as against 1,493 in 1878, and in the Grant-in-aid Schools there were, under Government inspection, 1,417 scholars in 1879 as compared with 1,021 in 1878. There has been, in fact, during the last three years a continuous slight decrease in the enrolment of scholars in the Government Schools, compensated by a continuous steady increase during the same three years in the enrolment of scholars in the Grant-in-aid Schools. Taking, however, all the schools subject to Government control or inspection in this Colony together, there was in 1879 an increase in the total number of scholars (3,460 in 1879 as compared with 3,152 in 1878) amounting to 9.77 per cent., as compared with the preceding year. The number of schools under Government supervision advanced in 1879 from 47 to 50, one of the three new schools (St. Joseph's College) bringing as many as 255 boys under Government inspection. There has, therefore, been a slight advance made in 1879 as regards the number of schools and scholars brought under Government supervision, and from what I have observed and learned as regards the Chinese portions of the town, I believe the number of purely native Confucian Schools, independent of Government, have also been slightly increased. Nevertheless, I do not think that we can safely estimate the whole number of children in schools of all descriptions in the Colony at over 6,000, which with our present population of at least 145,000 inhabitants amounts to 4.13 per cent. In 1878 there were in the Primary Schools of Great Britain 2,782,454 children out of an estimated population of 28,448,326 people. Thus we have 9.74 per cent, of the whole population in Great Britain under primary instruction, whilst we have in Hongkong about 4.13 per cent. under instruction whether primary or otherwise. I calculate the number of uneducated children in the Colony, from 6 to 15 years of age, to amount to about 14,000.