Six of the boys schools and four of the girls schools had hostels or boarding establishments but day scholars were also admitted.
The fees in these schools varied from $4 to $6 (5s/- to 7s/6d-) per mensem; the percentage of pupils wholly exempted from fees varied from 3% to 7% and the number of scholarship holders from 2% to 25%.
In 1939 there were 20 day schools for boys (one being situated at Un Long in the New Territories) of this class; all followed the syllabus of the Government English primary schools. In general they catered for those who could not gain admittance to the Government or grant schools because of over age or lack of accommodation at those schools. The fees in these schools were generally low ($2 per mensem or less) and this attracted many of the poorer students who could not win scholarships in the Government or grant schools.
In addition there were 78 night schools where boys received a primary education in English and elementary arithmetic. Most of these night schools found accommodation in premises used by vernacular day schools.
2,416 boys attended the day schools whilst 3,256 boys attended the night schools.
## II. Vernacular Schools
(a) Urban Districts:-
There were no Government vernacular primary schools.
The number of private primary schools for boys at the end of the year was 494, 92 subsidised, and 402 non-subsidised; of these latter 377 were day schools and 25 night schools. The maximum attendance at these 494 schools was 47,164 and the average attendance 45,026.
There were two kinds of subsidised schools:-
(i) those run by public institutions (missionary and charitable bodies and trade guilds etc.) for the benefit of the poor. These were either free or charged only a nominal fee - 50 cents to $1 (1s/3d) per mensem,
(ii) Schools run by Government-trained teachers and charging low fees.
The subsidies given to these schools were approximately half of the difference between expenditure on rents and salaries and income from fees, the total subsidies paid during 1939 being $49,380, i.e. $536.70 per school or $1.10 per pupil on the average.
Besides these subsidised schools already mentioned there was a mixed school (19 boys and 18 girls) in Kowloon City for the deaf and dumb which received a subsidy of $720 per annum.
The non-subsidised schools were mostly run by private teachers who tried to make a living out of them; the fees charged varied from $1.00 to $4.00 per mensem.
The length of the primary course in these vernacular schools is 6 years - 4 years lower primary and 2 years higher primary - but not every school provides a full course. Old type schools where only Chinese literature is taught are no longer found: in all existing schools the curriculum includes, besides Chinese, at least the two "modern" subjects arithmetic and geography; English is not usually taught until the middle school stage. These schools are attended by all classes of boys, and those who intend to enter English schools are expected to finish the lower-primary course. For use in these schools the Government issues a series of Hong Kong Chinese Readers.