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16. Scholarships.-Owing to the change of the school year, the Scholarship Examination usually held at the end of the year for boys from Vernacular Schools to Government Schools was postponed till June 1934.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS-RURAL DISTRICTS.
17. Subsidized Schools. Of the 101 Subsidized Schools on the list at the end of the previous year, 10 closed and two were taken off the list during the year. With 17 schools newly subsidized, the total was brought to 106. This number includes an English School at Saikung Village under the management of the Roman Catholic Mission. The subsidy system has not been changed. After paying off the ordinary subsidies, part of the surplus of the vote was expended in giving special awards in 17 deserving cases. The total subsidies paid out amounted to $17,982.50, working out to an average of $169.64 per school, or $4.10 per pupil.
18. Non-Subsidized Schools.--17 of these schools were transferred to the Subsidized List, 28 closed and 39 were registered during the year; thus the total on the list stood at 59 at the end of the year, (63 in 1932 and 80 in 1931). A gradual decrease in the number of Non-Subsidized Schools has been noticed during the last three years. This is partly due to several amalgamations of schools that are in the same village or in neighbouring villages which are close to each other.
Another cause for the decrease is that teachers find it difficult to live on the scanty school fees. Unless the inhabitants in these rural districts are prepared to spend more money on the education of their children, the day may come when none of these village-schools can exist without Government help.
19. Attendance. The maximum enrolment in Subsidized Schools was 4,327, including 551 girls, (4,239 with 456 girls in 1932), and in Non-Subsidized Schools, 1,719 including 237 girls, (1,633 with 222 girls in 1932). The average attendance in Subsidized Schools was 3,770, and in Non-Subsidized Schools, 1,613.
20. All schools have been visited at least once by an Inspector and several times by a Sub-inspector.
Y. P. LAW,
W. YU,
I. S. WAN,
S. W. LIANG,
Inspectors of Vernacular Schools.
21st March, 1931.