AnnualReport-1924 — Page 497

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REPORT OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, 1924.

INTRODUCTORY.

It may be of assistance to those who seek information on matters concerned with local education from the following annual report if I preface it with a few remarks on some of the aims and difficulties of educational administration in this Colony.

The numbers and circumstances of British children in this distant Colony make it at once feasible and desirable to provide them all with an education in Government Schools as nearly as possible equal and similar to what they could find at home, until such age as they are called on either to go home, or to seek employment locally. It is natural that parents should take an early opportunity of sending, or better still of taking, their children to be educated in their own country; and consequently inevitable that most of our British children should be leaving at an early age. At the end of last year there were 415 British children at school here, of whom only 101 or 24.3 per cent, were over 12 years old. It is true that an increasing number of British children are finding local employment direct from school, but it is a matter for regret that of those who remain in the Colony, only a small proportion stay at school after their services have once become of marketable value. This is bad for the pupils and discouraging to the staff.

Other communities for which separate provision for educa- tion is needed are the Portuguese and the Indian. The children of the former usually attend one or other of the Roman Catholic schools which are privately managed but assisted with Government Grants. The Indian children usually attend the Indian School at Sokunpo, which was erected by the late Sir Ellis Kadoorie, and handed over by him to be managed by the Government.

The problem of Chinese children is different. Their numbers are so large that it is impossible for the Government to take charge of the education of all. The principle adopted is to endeavour to set a good standard of work in Government Schools while giving assistance by grants or subsidies to all private schools which reach the required modest standard of efficiency.

Our task then, as regards Government Schools, is to obtain an adequate and qualified staff and a suitable curriculum: as regards private schools to give such assistance as we may without unduly limiting their freedom.

In a Colony like this, where the demand for education exceeds the supply, there is a temptation for teachers and managers to try to take an excessive number of pupils. For