281
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། ། ། ། །
سائس
Reference —
C.O.882/12
| COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOI 10
BI
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON,
|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
74
who acts as Secretary of the Schools Committee, should be with- drawn. These reductions do not affect the annual allotment of Rs.8,200 on account of fees to examiners; such fees are normal and justifiable, and though the fees obtained from candidates amount only to Rs.6,000, we do not feel it necessary to make any recommendation regarding the rates.
Another subsidiary interest of the headquarters office is the sale of books. Their purchase costs Rs.19,000 and a Store Clerk on Rs.2,400 is maintained for their charge. The amount realized by sales is usually Rs.14,000 and may be more. The department should endeavour to avoid any loss on this small branch..
6. Examinations also bulk very largely in the work of the inspecting staff. This is in part the result of the remarkable system of scholarships which prevails in Mauritius. Three scholarships are given in Secondary Schools and 26 scholarships and exhibitions in the Primary Schools, which have the effect of giving free secondary education to the holders for as long as five or six years, while the scholars also have the privilege of free travelling by rail. To this list must be added the scholarship and exhibition which is awarded in each class, except the entrance class, of the Royal College and the Royal College School. The budget allot- ment is Rs.14,500 in the Schools Department, besides Rs.3,200 in the Royal College while, in addition, the cost of free tickets on the railway amounts to Rs.8,000.
The scholarship system is generous, but so far as the Primary Schools are concerned we accept it as a desirable encouragement to the poorer classes of the community. We see no such justifica- tion for the system of examination which prevails to an extra- ordinary degree. Each standard in a Primary School has its examination at the end of the school year. The examinations are conducted by the Inspectors of Schools consecutively during the months of February to November, and it is obvious that this can give an Inspector little time for any other work; in effect he passes from school to school with no other object than the conduct of the examinations. The minimum age for joining a Primary School is 5 years and children are frequently taken at the age of 4. It is obvious that for the lower standards, and at these ages, an examination is neither desirable in the interests of the child, nor seriously effective as an indication of his progress. We put this point to the Acting Superintendent of Schools and ascertained not only that he agreed with our views, but that he had already dis- cussed the subject and was prepared to recommend that there should be no examination below standard V; for standards V and VI it would be easy, as pointed out by the Acting Superintendent, to group the pupils of neighbouring schools for an examination which would have the effect of securing a more uniform level in testing the results of the examination. We agree and recommend that the change should immediately be made. The result would
75
be a great relief to the inspecting staff and would make them more completely available for the inspection of schools and for the. improvement of the methods of teaching which are followed by the head teachers and their assistants. This we regard as the most important duty of the inspecting staff.
7. At present the Senior Inspector of Schools is entirely respon- sible for the examination of the lower forms of the Secondary Aided Schools and, in addition, he is used to help the other Inspectors in the Primary Schools examination. It is evident that there has been a tendency in the past for the Senior Inspector to regard himself as having no legitimate duties apart from the inspec- tion and examination of the nine aided schools. If this were the case the work would be quite insufficient to justify a post on Rs.7,500. The Acting Superintendent has already made proposals for transferring the Senior Inspector to other duties and for entrust- ing his duties to one of the junior Inspectors of Schools, a fact which indicates the departmental view of the importance of this post. If the examination system of Primary Schools were curtailed the Acting Superintendent has no doubt that all the inspection duties could be carried out by the junior Inspectors. We concur and recommend that the post of Senior Inspector of Schools should be abolished. The work of inspection in the schools at present main- tained and aided by the Government can be performed by three Inspectors of Schools and, more particularly, and to a much greater degree than is the case at present, by the Superintendent of Schools himself.
8. Apart from the general system of the Schools Department which we have described there are three special institutions to which we must now call attention. The first of these is the Train- ing College, as it is described in the budget. This is really a Primary School which takes 20 students who are paid allowances amounting to more than Rs.10,000 a year and are simply taught the ordinary educational subjects in order that they may compete for the teachers' certificate with other boys who appear for the same examination without these privileges. The cost of the Train- ing School with its staff and allowances is approximately Rs.29,000. With the present organization of the school there is no attempt to use it for the training of young men in the teaching profession. It is no more than a school for candidates, and the result may be described in the words of the Acting Superintendent :-
When the course of training is over, successful candidates are awarded certificates and are then eligible for employment in Government or Aided Primary Schools. But it is not always
PUBLIC
PECORD OFFICE
Reference -
T ། ། ། །
C.O.882/12
ސ
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
possible
and,
room
who
last
to
find
year,
76
employment
for instance,
schools
in Government obtained certificates.
Schools
Primary
There
School.
assistants.
are
and two
present
are
at The Teaching staff
for
it
for
Four
all
was
the
successful students
an impossibility to find even one
have
of
since
still waiting
for
twenty students
consists
of
the
six candidates
joined the Aided
jobs.
at
the Training
a Principal
and two
The total annual expenditure without reckoning the amount spent on the maintenance
is Rs.29,032 (allowance
school furniture
the annual
so that
..
Here
I do
not
cost
think
per student
of the building and the to students inclusive) is about Rs.1,450.
it irrelevant
ment of students-in-training is, I among Primary School teachers.
concerned
to
fear,
So
state
a
far
that
cause
the employ-
of discontent
as certificates are
a training-student has no better qualifications than a candidate getting through the teachers' examinations by his own means. When, however, there is a vacant post
the training-student
up
the
reason
why
there
are
is generally selected. This
to be filled
is probably
at present qualified teachers reckoning