The "Oxford" course at a student library has been instituted and widely used. The session now commences in September instead of February as formerly, and for the session ending August 1939, there was a maximum enrolment of 131 with an average attendance of 114, compared with an average attendance of 82 during the previous term, February to July 1938, and an average attendance of 110.2 during the session ending December 1937. The drop in average attendance from February to July 1938 is explained by the fact that no new students were enrolled between February 1937 and September 1938. The change in session was made to bring the school into line with other schools in the Colony, whose session commences in September. The students of this school have no difficulty in being placed in apprenticeships upon completion of their course.
(ii) The Government Trade School, which was opened in April 1938 with three departments—Engineering, Building, and Wireless Telegraphy—continued to expand. The fees for the engineering and building classes were $5 per mensem, and for wireless telegraphy, $10 per mensem.
In addition to these courses, an intensive course of training for 15 British soldiers was held during July and August. The course consisted of lectures and workshop practice to enable students to undertake the maintenance of mechanical transport.
In the building class, which opened in September 1938, 18 out of 20 first-year students qualified for admission to the second year, and 23 second-year students qualified to enter the third year. Altogether, the average attendance in this department was 43. In the engineering department, 20 second-year and 23 out of 24 first-year students qualified for promotion. Students in the automobile engineering class carried out repair work on private cars to obtain broader experience of work on a "commercial basis," which is considered essential if students are to be able to take their place in industry immediately upon leaving school. In the wireless telegraphy course, the maximum enrolment was 40; 10 students were removed after a 2-month trial as unlikely to be efficient, and the average attendance was 20. The average enrolment for the 3 departments was 104, compared with 86 in the previous session.
Certain staff members of the Trade School also assisted in the Junior Technical School. There are four chief instructors and two assistant instructors (European). In addition, there was a Chinese staff consisting of 1 university-trained master with appropriate industrial training, a Chinese telegraphist for wireless telegraph duties, and a probationer Chinese workshop instructor.
(iv) Besides the above vocational schools, which are maintained by the Government, there were five day and four night unaided English vocational schools. Two day schools were for the training of wireless operators, and the remainder were commercial, professing to cover a very wide course type—type-writing, shorthand, book-keeping, and even banking—in one year. Students of both sexes attended the day schools, where the qualification for entry was passing the Class 3 examination in an Anglo-Chinese school or its equivalent. 650 males and 120 females attended the day schools, and 86 males attended the night schools.
Of the eleven vernacular vocational schools in the urban districts, the largest was the Aberdeen Industrial School, with a maximum enrolment of 356. The school comprises (i) a primary school from which many students are recruited for (ii) the artisan's section (with about 50 students in each) of four different five-year courses, viz., tailoring, shoe-making, machinery, and carpentry. The other schools were four of accountancy (152 students), three of engineering (130), one of Chinese drawing (15), one of Chinese embroidery (3), and one providing classes in journalism (6) and Chinese dramatic arts (17).
In the New Territories, there was a school, small with its ten students as yet, fostered by the New Territories Agricultural Association to train farmers to provide high-quality vegetables and fruits for the local markets.