decidedly declined, the only way to remedy the existing state of attendances, as regards St. Joseph's College, will be to abolish the Italian custom of giving a whole holiday every Wednesday (or Thursday).
20. With the Roman Catholic schools I class also the Victoria Schools, as they are under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Mission, although these schools do not teach religious instruction at all. This latter point gives the Victoria Schools so far an advantage, as more time is given to secular instruction, but the entire absence of religious teaching deprives, in my opinion, the Victoria Schools of the educational power exercised by St. Joseph's College. On the other hand, the mixing of Portuguese and Chinese boys, which is the systematic practice of the Victoria boys' school, appears to produce a healthy emulation, of which St. Joseph's College deprives itself by the separation of Chinese from Portuguese scholars. Out of 104 scholars on the roll of the Victoria Schools, only 46 could be examined, and most of those who were not examined were excluded on the ground of insufficient attendances. Some, however, had been attending another Grant-in-Aid school or the Central School during part of the year, and were excluded from the grant on that score. Out of 27 boys examined, 3 failed in 1 subject each, but none failed entirely. There were also 19 girls examined and all passed. As the scholars of the Victoria Schools are distributed over all the six standards of the Code, it required very considerable effort on the part of the teachers to teach so many classes so efficiently.
21. The next Roman Catholic school which teaches English is St. Francis' girls school, which came last year for the first time under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme. Out of 15 girls presented for examination, only 8 had the requisite number of attendances, and these 8 girls were examined only in the two lowest standards of the Code. One failed in 2 subjects, the others passed. A distinguishing feature of this school is the fine needlework done by the pupils under the tuition of the Italian Sisters of Charity.
22. The remaining Roman Catholic schools which were under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme in 1881, and which give a European education, confine their teaching at present to the Portuguese language, viz., the St. Francis' Portuguese School and the Bridges Street Ragged Schools, all of which are under the tuition of the Italian Sisters of Charity. In St. Francis' Portuguese School, which is a mixed school of very young children and infants, a considerable number had to be excluded from examination owing to their extreme youth making a pass in the lowest standard of the Code, which makes no provision for infant schools, an impossibility. Again, on the score of insufficient attendances, out of 41 presented, 21 had to be excluded from examination. Of the 20 children who could be examined, 17 were placed in the first (lowest) standard, and 3 in the second. The result was, however, satisfactory, as only 3 failed in 1 subject each, and 18 passed. The Bridges Street Ragged Schools presented, excluding infants and those who had not the full number of attendances, 18 boys for examination, but most of them were clearly too young to be expected to pass even in the lowest Standard of the Code. Out of 18 boys examined, there were accordingly 9 boys who failed in 3 subjects each, and 2 failed in 1 subject each. Thus, out of 18 boys examined, only 7 boys passed. But the failure was manifestly not caused by deficient teaching but by the extreme youth of the children. In the girls' school, the circumstances being the same, the result was little different. Out of 38 girls on the roll, 31 had the requisite number of attendances, but most of the children were too young to be expected to pass. Accordingly 18 failed in 2 subjects each, and 2 failed in 1 subject each. Out of 31 girls examined, only 11 passed. Both these schools are specially designed for the Portuguese poor, and are doing an excellent work as ragged schools, though the remarkable tidiness and cleanliness of schools and scholars belies the idea of any raggedness.
23. Only two Protestant institutions teach English under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme, viz., the Diocesan School and the so-called Hongkong Public School, and both of them are connected with the Church of England. The Diocesan Home and Orphanage is a boarding school for Eurasian children, and although it gives also Chinese teaching, in addition to English which is the language of the school, it does not submit its Chinese teaching to Government examination. I can therefore only treat it as an English school. As such it presented 32 boys for examination and these were distributed over all the six standards of the Code, which fact, in view of the small staff, indicates a very considerable amount of work thrown on the teacher. Out of 31 boys examined, 7 failed in 1 subject each, 1 failed in 2 subjects, and 28 boys passed. This is a very satisfactory result. As this school devotes its afternoons to Chinese teaching, it is (apart from the Normal School) the only school in the Colony similar to the Central School in its combination of two languages taught in the school. On the other hand, being a boarding school, the Diocesan School has the advantage over the Central School by bringing the boys even out of school-hours under English influences, and affording them at all hours of the day an opportunity of hearing English spoken out of school. The reason why this school does not submit its Chinese teaching to Government inspection, by placing it under Class V (for schools in which a European education is given with Chinese in addition), is probably this, that by so doing the risk of failures at the examination would be very considerably increased, whilst the value of a pass would be but slightly higher. In other words, the school would not be likely to earn as high a grant by being placed under Class V, as it now earns whilst being placed under the lower Class IV. This seems to me to indicate that the Code, as it stands at present, does not encourage the combination of two languages as subjects of instruction.
decidedly declined, the only way to remedy the existing state of attendances, as regards St. Joseph's College, will be to abolish the Italian custom of giving a whole holiday every Wednesday (or Thursday).
ہیں
20. With the Roman Catholic schools I class also the Victoria Schools, as they are under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Mission, although these schools do not teach religiou at all. This latter point gives the Victoria Schools so far an advantage, as more time is given to secular instruction, but the entire absence of religious teaching deprives, in my opinion, the Victoria Schools of the educational power exercised by St. Joseph's College. On the other hand, the mixing of Portuguese and Chinese boys, which is the systematic practice of the Victoria boys' school, appears to produce a healthy emulation, of which St. Joseph's College deprives itself by the separation of Chinese from Portuguese scholars. Out of 104 scholars on the roll of the Victoria Schools, only 46 could be examined, and most of those who were not examined were excluded on the ground of insufficient attendances. Some, however, had been attending another Grant-in-Aid school or the Central School during part of the year, and were excluded from the grant on that score. Out of 27 boys examined, 3 failed in 1 subject each, but none failed entirely. There were also 19 girls examined and all passed. As the scholars of the Victoria Schools are distributed over all the six standards of the Code, it required very considerable effort on the part of the teachers to teach so many classes so efficiently.
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21. The next Roman Catholic school which teaches English is St. Francis' girls school, which came last year for the first time under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme. Out of 15 girls presented for examination, only 8 had the requisite number of attendances, and these 8 girls were examined only in the two lowest standards of the Code. One failed in 2 subjects, the others passed. A distinguishing feature of this school is the fine needlework done by the pupils under the tuition of the Italian Sisters of Charity.
after
22. The remaining Roman Catholic schools which were under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme in 1881, and which give a European education, confine their teaching at present to the Portuguese language, viz., the St. Francis' Portuguese School and the Bridges Street Ragged Schools, all of which are under the tuition of the Italian Sisters of Charity. In St. Francis' Portuguese School, which is a mixed school of very young children and infants, a considerable number had to be excluded from examination owing to their extreme youth making a pass in the lowest standard of the Code, which makes no provision for infant schools, an impossibility. Again, on the score of insufficient attendances, out of 41 presented, 21 had to be excluded from examination. Of the 20 children who could be examined, 17 were placed in the first (lowest) standard, and 3 in the second. The result was, however, satisfactory, as only 3 failed in 1 subject each. and 18 passed. The Bridges Street Ragged Schools presented, excluding infants and those who had not the full number of attendances, 18 boys for examination, but most of them were clearly too young to be expected to pass even in the lowest Standard of the Code. Out of 18 boys examined, there were accordingly 9 boys who failed in 3 subjects each, and 2 failed in 1 subject each. Thus, out of 18 boys examined, only 7 boys passed. But the failure was manifestly not caused by deficient teaching but by the extreme youth of the children. In the girls' school, the circumstances being the same, the result was little different. Out of 38 girls on the roll, 31 had the requisite number of attendances, but most of the children were too young to be expected to pass.. Accordingly 18 failed in 2 subjects each, and 2 failed in 1 subject each. Out of 31 girls examined, only 11 passed. Both these schools are specially designed for the Portuguese poor, and are doing an excellent work as ragged schools, though the remarkable tidiness and cleanliness of schools and scholars. belies the idea of any raggedness.
:
23. Only two Protestant institutions teach English under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme, viz., the Diocesan School and the so-called Hongkong Public School, and both of them are connected with the Church of England. The Diocesan Home and Orphanage is a boarding school for Eurasian children, and although it gives also Chinese teaching, in addition to English which is the language of the school, it does not submit its Chinese teaching to Government examination. I can therefore only treat it as an English school. As such it presented 32 boys for examination and these were distributed over all the six standards of the Code, which fact, in view of the small staff, indicates a very considerable amount of work thrown on the teacher. Out of 31 boys examined, 7 failed in 1 subject each, 1 failed in 2 subjects, and 28 boys passed. This is a very satisfactory result. As this school devotes its afternoons to Chinese teaching, it is (apart from the Normal School) the only school in the Colony similar to the Central School in its combination of two languages taught in the school. On the other hand, being a boarding school, the Diocesan School has the advantage over the Central School by bringing the boys even out of school-hours under English influences, and affording them at all hours of the day an opportunity of hearing English spoker out of school. The reason why this school does not submit its Chinese teaching to Government inspection, by placing it under Class V (for schools in which a European education is given with Chinese in addition), is probably this, that by so doing the risk of failures at the examination would be very considerably increased, whilst the value of a pass would be but slightly higher. In other words, the school would not be likely to earn as high a grant by being placed under Class V, as it now earns whilst being placed under the lower Class IV. This seems to me to indicate that the Code, as it stands at present, does not encourage the combination of two languages as subjects of instruction."
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