N 11
23. Without being unduly optimistic I think I may say that the condition of the College promises a great and rapid improvement towards a high level of efficiency.
DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
Upper Grade.
24. The three schools, Saiyingpun, Wanchai and Yaumati, have continued to prosper. The combined numbers in average attendance have fallen from 932 to 764 as compared with last year. This is the result of the deliberate policy of the Government in reducing the size of Classes and in fixing age limits. The amount collected in fees was $25,968 as compared with $20,701 last year. The increase is due to the increased rate of fees. Experience has shown that the fee of $3 per mensem is not too much. But the further increase to $4 at Saiyingpun has proved a check on attendance, and it has been decided to make the fee at that school the same as at the other two.
25. The net cost to Government of the three schools combined is $21.08 per pupil, as compared with $21.15 last year. The improvement in the knowledge and skill of the Chinese Staff has been so steady during the past few years, that it is to be hoped that no further proportionate increase of the more expensive English Staff will be needed, and that the tendency will be for the cost per unit to diminish.
26. The curriculum of the schools is that published in my annual report last year, Annexe A. Some minor changes have been introduced, and it appears very suitable. It may probably be possible to make it a little stiffer next year with advantage. The top Classes to the number of about 50 boys competed at the end of the school year for the fourteen entrance scholarships given annually into Queen's College. The papers, which were marked by Masters of the College, cover the ordinary work of the year, except Hygiene, in which subject the three schools did very fairly well (paragraph 53).
27. The following extracts from the report on the scholarship examination are of interest:
"English Subjects.—Dictation was well done. The piece set was by no means an easy one, and the papers showed that besides trying to reduce the sound of the words to letters, the boys had also tried to grasp the grammatical agreements between the words and the general sense of the passage. Correspondence.—In the case of each of the three schools, a small proportion of boys stood out very prominently above the rest; while a considerable number of others were hopelessly out of the running. In Grammar this difference was not nearly so marked, most of the papers being quite creditably done. Reading, Conversation and Recitation. Most of the boys did quite well, especially those from Wanchai, although here again a certain small proportion stood out head and shoulders above the others. The boys from Youmati School had prepared no Recitation, while the pieces submitted by the boys from Saiyingpun were not nearly so suitable as those prepared by the boys from Wanchai.
N 11
23. Without being unduly optimistic I think I may say that the condition of the College promises a great and rapid improvement towards a high level of efficiency.
DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
Upper Grade.
24. The three schools, Saiyingpun, Wanchai and Yaumati, hare continued to prosper. The combined numbers in average attendance have fallen from 932 to 764 as compared with last year. This is the result of the deliberate policy of the Government in reducing the size of Classes and in fixing age limits. The amount collected in fees was $25,968 as compared with $20,701 last year. The increase is due to the increased rate of fees. Experience has shewn that the fee of $3 per mensem is not too much. But the further increase to $4 at Saivingpun has proved a check on attendance, and and it has been decided to make the fee at that school the same as at the other two.
25. The net cost to Government of the three schools combined is $21.08 per pupil, as compared with $21.15 last year. The improvement in the knowledge and skill of the Chinese Staff has been so steady during the past few years, that it is to be hoped that no further proportionate increase of the more expensive English Staff will be needed, and that the tendency will be for the cost per unit to diminish.
26. The curriculum of the schools is that published in my annual report last year, Annexe A. Some minor changes have been introduced, and it appears very suitable. It may probably be possible to make it a little stiffer next year with advantage. The top Classes to the number of about 50 boys competed at the end of the school year for the fourteen entrance scholarships given annually into Queen's College. The papers, which were marked by Masters of the College, cover the ordinary work of the year, except Hygiene, in which subject the three schools did very fairly well (paragraph 53).
27. The following extracts from the report on the scholarship cxamination are of interest:
"English Subjects.— Dictation was well done. The piece set was by no means an easy one, and the papers shewed that besides trying to reduce the sound of the words to letters, the boys had also tried to grasp the grammatical agreements between the words and the general sense of the passage. Correspondence.--In the case of each of the three schools, a small proportion of boys stood out very prominently above the rest; while a considerable number of others were hopelessly out of the running. In Grammar this difference was not nearly so marked, most of the papers being quite creditably done. Reading, Conversation and Recitation. Most of the boys did quite well, especially those from Wanchai, although here again a certain small porportion stood out head and shoulders above the others. The boys from Youmati School had prepared no Recitation, while the pieces submitted by the boys from Saiyingpun were not nearly so suitable as those prepared by the boys from Wanchai.
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