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20 Night) and 1 new Girls' School (Day) were opened. The total number of schools open was: --Day Schools, 25 Boys' and 4 Girls' : Night Schools, 44 Boys'; with a maximum enrolment of 1,293 boys and 104 girls in the Day Schools, and 2,103 boys in the Night Schools. These figures include 2 Exempted Schools, the Catholic Seminary, a Day School with 20 students training for the priesthood, and a new Night School, maintained by the Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company for the instruction of some of their Chinese employees, with 43 in attendance.
"The English School for Portuguese,' formerly a successful Grant School, has detached itself from the Grant Scheme and become a Private School.
Premises. In the case of new schools, before a certificate is issued the premises are, as a preliminary measure, first reported upon by a Sanitary Inspector. The Regulations regarding Hygiene and Sanitation are brought before the notice of Head Masters, and are, as far as possible enforced; the standard required in this particular will be raised considerably during the coming year.
"All English Private Schools now display Notice Boards in English. Most of the entrances and staircases are badly lighted and consequently dangerous. This is a matter that is being dealt with.
"Furniture.-Desks are as a rule suitable and in fair condition, but except in few cases the educational equipment is very poor.
"Staff.-While the more inefficient Teachers have retired and closed their schools, there are still some who are below the standard. It is not proposed to issue certificates in future to any Private School unless the Head Master holds at least a Junior Local Certificate of Oxford or Hongkong University, or a Teachers' Certificate (1st Year) of the Hongkong Technical Institute, or can produce evidence of having attained to an equivalent standard of education.
"Discipline in the schools is good, in a passive way, but good manners are not always insisted upon. Punctuality is, in many schools, an unknown virtue.
"Attendance and Registration.-A uniform type of Attendance Register has been introduced, and Monthly Attendance Returns are now sent in regularly by all schools, although at first considerable difficulty was experienced in instructing the Masters how to fill in correctly even the simplest forms.
"I have frequently noticed that Masters do not know even the names of their pupils, much less the nature of their daily occupation or their special requirements educationally. This I take to be proof that their schools are conducted chiefly with the object of getting fees from the pupils and not, as many Masters of Private Schools are so fond of assuring me, from a fervent desire to spread knowledge among the 'poorer classes'. On personal inquiry I have found that the pupils in attendance at Evening Schools are engaged during the day as office-attendants, copying clerks, shop assistants, dock workmen, etc.
"Fees are as high as $3.00 a month in some Day Schools. It is difficult to understand why boys should attend these schools, when for the same fee they could attend the infinitely superior Government District Schools or the Grant Schools.
"Curriculum Reading is fair generally, while English Conversation and Composition are very poor.