CO885-9 — Page 463

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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It appears from the Governor's despatch that it will be necessary to incur ex- penditure amounting to about R. 1,000 a year to meet the travelling expenses and inaintenance of teachers not resident in Colombo who will attend the classes, and a vote for this purpose will be taken in the estimates for 1905. The Governor will report on the working of this scheme after.it has had a fair trial.

It has now been decided that a clause shall be inserted in next year's Code by which teachers in Vernacular Schools who have been through the proposed course of lectures in Sanitation at the Medical College successfully, will be able to earn a bonus of Rs. 10 by presenting the fourth and fifth standards in the subject, a dis- cretion being left to the Inspector to recommend either the full bonus or half of it. according to the quality of the work done.

STRAITS.

The Acting Governor states that it seems to him very desirable that the inhabi- tants of the Straits should be instructed in hygiene, and lectures on the subject are shortly to be given in Singapore. When suitable arrangements can be made, a course of elementary lectures may be given to which the teachers and senior pupils in schools might be invited. The Acting Director of Public Instruction does not consider it advisable at present that sanitation should be a compulsory subject in the schools, as it would infallibly lead to cramming without understanding and in this the Acting Governor agrees with him. The Acting Governor adds, however, that the subject may be brought up in connection with other lessons and a great deal of useful knowledge imparted without any special course of teaching being laid down in the education code.

MAURITIUS.

The Acting Director of Public Instruction heartily sympathizes with the end in view, but fears that the present condition of the Mauritius schools does not admit of any practical scheme. The teachers know nothing of the subject and are, there- fore, unable to teach the children. There are some 150 or more schools scattered over the island and no general teaching on a subject like sanitation, which should be given to several listeners simultaneously, is possible. The Acting Director can only suggest that a nucleus might be formed from the town schools and their teachers given some instruction by the Medical Department. Then, little by little, those who had been taught might carry their knowledge further afield.

The Acting Director of the Medical and Health Department states that every effort should be made to attain the end in view and that the principle advocated has already been acted upon in Mauritius. In 1898 Dr. Barbeau started a course of instruction on hygiene and sanitation and lectures were given to the Sanitary Inspectors and Guards. These lectures had unfortunately to be abandoned on account of the outbreak of plague. The subjects of the lectures were the principles of elementary hygiene and diseases of tropical climates, special attention being given to the diseases more commonly met with in Mauritius and the places in direct and fre- quent communication with Port Louis. Similar lectures could be started again on a somewhat different basis to meet the end in view. They might be delivered in one of the public halls in Port Louis on Saturdays so as to allow the teachers in public and State-aided schools to be present. In order to render the effect of these lectures more valuable, pamphlets dealing with the subject should be prepared for distribu- tion to the staff of the colleges and schools and to the more advanced pupils. The Acting Governor states that if it is found possible to arrange for the preparation of suitable handbooks and primers, as mentioned in the concluding paragraph of the circular of the 7th October, 1903, he would be glad to receive half a dozen copies of the books. In the meantime the Acting Director of the Medical Department will be instructed to submit a scheme to carry out the suggestions contained in his report.

SEYCHELLES.

The Governor states that so far no attempt has been made to teach in the Seychelles schools the rudiments of hygiene and that he is at present somewhat doubtful whether the time has arrived when such instruction could be generally given. At the Victoria School and at St. Louis College there should be no difficulty in the Masters and Marist Brothers learning from simple text books the rudimentary principles of hygiene and then giving to their classes short lessons which should be brought home to the boys by means of coloured pictures or plates. But in the

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country grant-in-aid schools the position is different. The average intelligence of the children is low, and the sisters who are in charge of nearly all the Roman Catholic grant-in-aid schools find it difficult enough as it is to teach their pupils the simple subjects prescribed by the code. The Governor feels doubtful also whether the children could follow lectures given in English and believes that, unless hygiene is taught orally and by demonstration, instruction in this branch of science would be unprofitable. He is inclined to recommend, as a preliminary step, that an attempt should be made to have instruction in sanitation given in the schools in Victoria and in every other populous centre where there are men acquainted with the English language or employed as teachers, deferring for the present the question of having such instruction given in all grant-in-aid schools. If this view is concurred in, the Governor will be glad to be furnished with a copy of the paper "Teaching of Sani- tation in Schools," to which Sir William MacGregor refers in his despatch, and with copies of any text books which may have been found useful so far by teachers in schools where instruction in sanitation has been given. On receipt of these docu- ments the Governor will lay definite proposals before the Education Committee and will enlist the support of the heads of denominations and the headmaster of the Victoria School in giving any scheme that may be decided upon fair trial.

HONG KONG.

No attempt has hitherto been made on lines similar to those adopted by Sir W. MacGregor in Lagos to teach the rudiments of hygiene in Hong Kong, but the Governor considers that school children can usefully be given such instruction and that the teachers of the Colony are competent to impart it. drawn up by Dr. W. W. Pearce to form the basis of instruction in hygiene. The A pamphlet has been first part of each of the seven chapters into which it is divided is intended for use in elementary schools, to be supplemented by such further instruction as the teacher may think necessary, and the second part provides notes and references to guide the reading of students in more advanced classes. It is proposed that in all Government and grant-in-aid schools two lessons a week should be given in this subject, one as a reading and one as an object lesson. To ensure further knowledge there will be recapitulation in each class of the course previously studied. Private schools will be invited to include the subject in their curriculum and to adopt similar courses in corresponding classes. To encourage the study of the more advanced part of the subject the Governor proposes, while he is in Hong Kong, to give three prizes of $100, $50, and $25 to the three students who take the highest places at an annual examination of boys and girls belonging to all the schools in the Colony in which hygiene is taught.

LABUAN.

The Principal Medical Officer has given the matter his attention, but doubts whether the scheme will be of practical benefit in North Borneo.

SOUTH AFRICA.

TRANSVAAL.

The teaching of hygiene and subjects admitting of hygienic application is a recognized part of the education scheme of the Transvaal. It is provided for by the elementary and secondary school codes, while candidates for teachers' certificates are required to prove that they have a competent knowledge of the principles of the subject before they can secure certificates of the third class, the syllabus of exami- nation of which is as follows:-

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(A) Composition and structure of the human body.

(B) The blood in its inoculation. Blood corpuscles. Uses of blood. Blood

vessels.

(c) Classification, digestion, and cooking of food.

(D) Income and expenditure of the human body.

(E) The skin and cleanliness.

The lungs and respiration. The air we breathe. Comparison of inspiring

and expiring air.

(G) General principles and methods of ventilatton.

(H) Clothing and exercise. The dwelling Lighting and warming of the

house.

B 2