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201. Many of the subsidised and most of the Unaided schools are "vernacular" schools where instruction is carried out in the Chinese language by teachers who have had no special academic training in school teaching and who to a great extent are ignorant of the true meaning of hygiene. The majority of these are institutions occupying one or more floors of old or newer tenement-houses and controlled by private individuals who make their living out of teaching. Such buildings were not intended for schools and in many cases it is a practical impossibility to provide for the pupils all the amenities which are generally considered necessary even if the finances of the school proprietor permitted of this being done. Generally speaking they are deficient in floor space, lighting, ventilation and latrine accommodation.
202. Children enter the Primary Vernacular Schools at 6 - 7 years of age and remain there for five years. The normal age for entering the secondary school is 12. The pupils who join the 8th or lowest class can rise one class each year until at 20 they are in the 1st class.
203. According to the Census the number of persons between five and fifteen years of age was 141,709. The total number of schools under inspection by the Education Department in 1935 was 1,114 and the number of scholars on the Roll was 75,480.