Page 20
Annexe II.
REPORT BY THE INSPECTOR OF VERNACULAR SCHOOLS.
As the general public seems to have gained recently a certain amount of misinformation regarding the existing conditions of Vernacular Schools, it may, perhaps, not be out of place to preface this Report with a few remarks on our Vernacular School System. At the outset, we should like to point out that Vernacular Schools are not meant to be feeders of the English Schools, and that, although the majority of Chinese Students in English Schools have had their pre-education in a Vernacular School, their English education begins only after they enter an English School. There are some 760 Vernacular Schools spread over all parts of the Urban Districts of Hong Kong and Kowloon, and practically all are housed in the ordinary tenement houses. Such school buildings, even to a layman's eye, are by no means ideal, but under existing conditions, all that can be done is to make the best of what is available. The 8-legged essay ceased to be taught in schools in China some 35 years ago when the Chinese Government abolished the old Examination system. We do not remember seeing the subject being taught in any school in the Colony. During the first few years after the enforcement of the Education Ordinance, Vernacular Schools in the Colony were found to be mostly run by Chinese teachers of the old school, and in those days, Chinese Classics and Literature predominated in the school curriculum, though some attempt was made by a few to teach a little Arithmetic and Geography. The Girls' Schools were run on more modern lines, but were more elementary. The change of the Educational system in China during the past two decades has produced a different type of teacher, and all registered Vernacular Schools in the Colony are now able to adopt the Model Syllabus which was approved by the Board of Education in 1929. We cannot as yet say that the teaching in these schools is perfect, but it is gratifying to find that the present syllabus, a compromise between our own and the one adopted by the Chinese Government in 1925 has proved to be adaptable to the constant changes of Educational policy in China.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
2. Vernacular Middle School.-Head Teacher, Mr. Li King Hong, B.A. The maximum enrolment was 244, and the average attendance was 228.
3. All the six boys in the Higher Middle Class III sat for the School Certificate Examination and three passed, gaining five distinctions. In the Normal Division, five out of ten students passed their Final Examination.
O 20
-
Annexe II.
REPORT BY THE INSPECTOR OF
VERNACULAR SCHOOLS.
As the general public seems to have
to have gained recently a certain amount of misinformation regarding the existing condi- tions of Vernacular Schools, it may, perhaps, not be out of place to preface this Report with a few remarks on our Vernacular School System. At the outset, we should like to point out that Vernacular Schools are not meant to be feeders of the English Schools, and that, although the majority of Chinese Students in English Schools have had their pre-education in a Vernacular School, their English education begins only after they enter an English School. There are some 760 Vernacular Schools spread over all parts of the Urban Districts of Hong Kong and Kowloon, and practically all are housed in the ordinary tenement houses. Such school buildings, even to a layman's eye, are by no means ideal, but under existing conditions, all that can be done is to make the best of what is available. The 8-legged essay ceased to be taught in schools in China some 35 years ago when the Chinese Government abolished the old Examination system. We do not remember seeing the subject being taught in any school in the Colony. During the first few years after the enforcement of the Education Ordinance, Vernacular Schools in the Colony were found to be mostly run by Chinese teachers of the old school, and in those days, Chinese Classics and Literature predominated in the school curriculum, though some attempt was made by a few to teach a little Arithmetic and Geography. The Girls' Schools were run on more modern lines, but were more elemen- tary. The change of the Educational system in China during the past two decades has produced a different type of teacher, and all registered Vernacular Schools in the Colony are now able to adopt the Model Syllabus which was approved by the Board of Education in 1929. We cannot as yet say that the teaching in these schools is perfect, but it is gratifying to find that the present syllabus, a compromise between our own and the one adopted by the Chinese Government in 1925 has proved to be adaptable to the constant changes of Educational policy in China.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
2. Fernacular Middle School.-Head Teacher, Mr. Li King Hong, B. A. The maximum enrolment was 244, and the average attendance was 228.
3. All the six boys in the Higher Middle Class III sat for the School Certificate Examination and three passed, gaining five distinctions. In the Normal Division, five out of ten students passed their Final Examination.
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