M 11
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for shooting. A Drill Instructor took drill and rifle-practice and a Band Instructor trained the buglers and drummers, each for one hour a week. A number of new cadets joined in December, when there was a rumour that the corps was going out to camp with the Volunteers. The corps was not taken however." Belilios Public School (English and Vernacular Sides).- Reference to past reports will show a radical change which has taken place in the nature of the Belilios Public School. Once perhaps the most important girls' school in the Colony, it gradually fell from this position and became mainly a resort for girls whose special educational needs were unprovided for elsewhere, viz., Jews, Eurasians, Japanese, etc. The attendance on the English Side, though eked out by a number of small boys, fell in 1905 to 85.
By that year however to quote my annual report, there were "signs of an increasing desire on the part of the Chinese parents to give their daughters an English Education". To meet the new demand special Divisions of the lower Classes were formed where the instruction ran strictly on English lines. By 1907, the Chinese pupils preponderated so greatly in the lower Classes, that it was possible to do away with the Non-Chinese Divisions altogether, and the school became organised as an "English School", to suit the requirements of the great majority of the pupils. It is hardly necessary to add that pupils of all nationalities were and are still welcomed. Nevertheless by 1908 the lowest Classes had become almost exclusively Chinese.
Under the same roof as this English School but quite independent of it there had been for many years a Vernacular Chinese School of a not very high type, but with a large attendance. In 1905, this Vernacular School fell under the management of Mr. Sung Hok-pang to whose singularly able control is due the remarkable improvement which has taken place. In his time the average attendance has risen from 175 to 326; the fees collected from nil to $1,921. The curriculum now includes elementary music and painting. But more significant still is the remarkable change for the better in the bearing and intelligence of the pupils. It was due to Mr. Sung's influence that in 1909 the two highest Standards expressed a desire to learn English for an hour a day. Their request was complied with, and the experiment has proved so successful that I have arranged for the four highest Standards to do so in future, the time spent on the subject increasing in the higher Standards. As the Chinese girls on the English Side are daily taught Chinese, the amalgamation of the Vernacular School (under Mrs. Tutcher) with the Vernacular School (under Mr. Sung Hok-pang) is practically complete.
The following extracts are from the annual report of the Headmistress:
"I am glad to be able to report that the arrangements made last year with a view to the drawing together of the two departments of the school have been a great success, and the ultimate fusion of the English and Chinese sides of the school to which His Excellency the Governor adverted at the prize distribution two years ago, is already well within sight.
M 11
"?
for shooting. A Drill Instructor took drill and rifle- practice and a Band Instructor trained the buglers and drummers, each for one hour a week. A number of new cadets joined in December, when there was a rumour that the corps was going out to camp with the Volunteers. The corps was not taken however.' Belilios Public School (English and Vernacular Sides).- Reference to past reports will shew a radical change which has taken place in the nature of the Belilios Public School. Once perhaps the most important girls' school in the Colony, it gradually fell from this position and became mainly a resort for girls whose special edu- cational needs were unprovided for elsewhere, viz., Jews, Eurasians, Japanese, etc. The attendance on the English Side, though eked out by a number of small boys, fell in 1905 to 85.
By that year however to quote my annual report, there were "signs of an increasing desire on the part of the Chinese parents to give their daughters an English Education". To meet the new demand special Divisions of the lower Classes were formed where the instruction ran strictly on English lines. By 1907, the Chinese pupils preponderated so greatly in the lower Classes, that it was possible to do away with the Non-Chinese Divisions altogether, and the school became organised as an "English School", to suit the requirements of the great majority of the pupils. It is hardly necessary to add that pupils of all nationalities were and are still welcomed. Nevertheless by 1908 the lowest Classes had become almost exclusively Chinese.
Under the same roof as this English School but quite independent of it there had been for many years a Vernacular Chinese School of a not very high type, but with a large attendance. In 1905, this Vernacular School fell under the management of Mr. Sung Hok-pang to whose singularly able control is due the remarkable im- provement which has taken place. In his time the average attendance has risen from 175 to 326; the fees collected from nil to $1,921. The curriculum now includes elementary music and painting. But more significant still is the remarkable change for the better in the bearing and intelligence of the pupils. It was due to Mr. Sung's influence that in 1909 the two highest Standards expressed a desire to learn English for an hour a day. Their request was complied with, and the experiment has proved so successful that I have arranged for the four highest Standards to do so in future, the time spent on the subject increasing in the higher Standards. As the Chinese girls on the English Side are daily taught Chinese, the amalgamation of the Vernacular School (under Mrs. Tutcher) with the Vernacular School (under Mr. Sung Hok-pang) is practically complete.
The following extracts are from the annual report of the Head- mistress:
"I am glad to be able to report that the arrangements made last year with a view to the drawing together of the two depart- ments of the school have been a great success, and the ultimate fusion of the English and Chinese sides of the school to which His Excellency the Governor adverted at the prize distribution two years ago, is already well within sight.
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