3rd April, 1881, as many as 6,587 children were returned as scholars, and it may safely be assume 8. The Preparatory School was examined in reading, writing and arithmetic. Of 126 boys thus that nearly all of them attended schools in the Colony at that time. Deducting from this number examined, only 104 had the requisite number of 200 attendances which in Grant-in-Aid schools is the number of scholars enrolled in the secular and denominational schools under Government inspection-qua-non for admission to the examination. Counting therefore only these 104 boys who had the (4,372), I find that there were 2,215 scholars attending private schools. The Census of 1881 enable requisite number of attendances, I find that 10 failed in reading, 2 in writing and 4 in arithmetic; that me also to calculate, more satisfactorily than it was possible to do so in previous years, the proporti 12 failed in one subject only, 1 failed in 2 subjects, and 1 in 3 subjects.. Allowing then, in considera- of educated to uneducated children in the Colony. It appears, on an approximate calculation (tion of the fact that this school spends part of its time on Chinese studies, the copywriting to make Table XVI appended to this report) that, out of 21,869 children under 16 years of age, resident i up for failure in one subject, as the Grant-in-Aid Scheme allows in other standards, the net result of the Colony in 1881, there were 6,587 returned as scholars, and that about 5,167 were then less that this examination is that, out of 104 boys examined, 2 failed to pass.
9. The Eighth Class was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic and copywriting. Out of 39 boys examined, only 29 had the requisite number of attendances. Counting only these 29 boys, I one failed in reading, 1 failed in dictation, 5 failed in arithmetic, none failed in copywriting;
without exception. None failed in more than 1 subject. The result, therefore, is that the 29 boys examined passed
and
10. The Seventh Class was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic and copywriting. Out of 41 boys examined, 36 had the requisite number of attendances. Counting only these 36 boys, I find that 2 failed in reading, 3 failed in dictation, 8 failed in arithmetic, and none failed in copywriting; that 11 failed in 1 subject only, and that I failed in 2 subjects. The result then is that, out of 36 boys examined, only 1 failed to pass.
five years of age. Hence I infer that the number of children who ought to have been in school, but di not attend any school in 1881, armounted to about 9,815. This estimate is, however, but an approx: mate one, and as it includes children up to 16 years of age, while many leave school when 14 or li years of
age, this estimate is certainly rather above than below the mark. I am, therefore, inclined: think that the number of uneducated children, who did not attend school in 1881, may safely estimated at 8,000. Considering, however, that almost all the existing schools in the Colony ang much over-crowded, it appears to me very likely that the number 8,000 represents not merely the number of uneducated children in the Colony, but the number of children for whom there is actually no school provided by public or private means. Further, as the number of girls (859) who attend known schools in 1881 is, when compared with the number of boys (about 4,000) attending such schools very far below the ratio of proportion of native boys (10,824) and girls (10,340) resident in the Colony, it seems to me safe to assume that a vast majority of those 8,000 uneducated children, for whom there is no school provided, are girls. The observations I made in all parts of the Colony incline me also to the opinion, that this want of schools and school accommodation for about $,000 children exists principally in the central parts of the town, where rent is too high to enable the ordinary Chinese teachers to make a living out of the small fees commonly paid in ordinary Chinese schools. There is no lack of demand for education of some sort among the Chinese people of this Colony, whether resident in 3 the town or in the villages, but with the exception of the villages, where the Aid System is freely availed of by the people, none of the Kaifong (native residents) of Hongkong have yet applied to the Government for grants-in-aid for educational
purposes.
5. Female education appears to be making slight progress in the Colony. As the Grant-in-Ail schools give year by year increased attention to female education, the number of girls attending Government schools continues to decrease from year to year. The number of girls attending Govern ment schools fell in 1878 to 285, in 1879 to 179, in 1880 to 138 and in 1881 to 120. On the other hand, in the Grant-in-Aid schools the attendance of girls rose during the same years from 343 in 1878, to 431 in 1879, to 564 in 1880 and to 739 in 1881. As regards the Chinese population of the Colony, the Census of 1881 records a total of 10,824 boys and 10,340 girls resident, in the Colony Apart from the girls' schools under Government inspection, and numbering in 1881 but 859 girls, there are very few girls' schools in existence in the Colony. There is therefore clearly a great education want unfulfilled yet. I have stated above my opinion that a vast majority of the 8,000 uneducated children of this Colony are girls. If I add here that nearly all these children are Chinese and that a considerable number of these girls are not living with their own parents, but are purchased servant girls, though of tender age, and live onder a sort of servitude, the need to provide for their education becomes even more apparent. Although the Chinese are, as a rule, very anxious to send their own children to school, they do not care to give their purchased servant girls any education. It is against the interests of the employer to send them to school. I am no advocate of compulsory education, but I think the peculiar circumstances of this Colony and the prevalence of domestic female servitude in Hongkong recommend a partial application of the system of compulsory education, in purely Chinese subjects, to those classes of Chinese females regarding which the Government (as the proper guardian of such purchased children whose parents are in most cases not living in Hongkong) has an interest, if not a duty, to make sure that such girls know, or at least have an opportunity of learning, that they are free.
6. Considering the steadily increasing number of schools teaching English, it is evident that there is from year to year a steady progress made in the promotion of a knowledge of English in this Colony. Besides 7 Government schools which teach English in addition to Chinese, there were in 1881 seven Grant-in-Aid schools teaching English only. The total number of children learning English in schools under Government supervision amounted to 1334.
7. The work done by the Government Central School in 1881, has been tested by me by at examination which I conducted on the same principles which I follow in the annual examinations of the Grant-in-Aid schools, but with such adaptations as the peculiar case of the Central School demanded. As regards Chinese studies, for which there is now but little time available in the Central School, since the number of hours during which the school is taught every day has been reduced from 8 to 6 hours, I may here briefly state that the results of the Chinese examination, which I conducted, shewed that in Chinese composition a fair result had been obtained, but that Chinese memoriter repeti- tion of the classies cannot be kept up now. But as the change was made in the latter portion of the year, it is too soon yet to come to a satisfactory decision. It would be useless therefore to detail here the results of the Chinese examination. But the results of the English examination may be stated ar follows.
11. The so-called Lower School, including the Sixth, Fifth and Fourth Classes, was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic, geography, grammar and copywriting. Out of 93 boys examined, only 82 had the requisite number of attendances. Of these 82 boys, 10 failed in reading, 29 failed in dictation, 14 failed in arithmetic, 10 failed in geography, 5 failed in grammar and none failed in copy- writing. I find that 21 failed in 1 subject only, but 12 failed in 2 subjects, 3 tailed in 3 subjects and failed in 4 subjects each. The result, therefore, is that, out of 82 boys examined, 18 failed to pass. The unfavourable result of this examination, the subjects of which, as in all other cases, had been fixed upon by myself in concert with the Headmaster and the Masters of these Classes, is in my opinion caused by the system of promoting boys from one class to another in the course of each term, which system appears to have still been in vogue in 1881. Some boys in this school had been admitted a few days before the examination took place, and many had evidently been moved out of the Preparatory or Eighth and Seventh Classes into this school before they were ripe for it.
12. The Third Class of the Central School was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic, geography, grammar, composition and copywriting. Out of 27 boys examined, only 20 had the requisite number of attendances. Of these 20 boys none failed in reading, none in dictation, 5 failed in arithmetic, none failed in geography, 1 failed in grammar, 5 failed in composition, and none in that, out of 20 boys examined, 2 failed to pass. copywriting. I find 7 failed in 1 subject only, 2 failed in 2 subjects each. The result is, therefore,
geography, grammar, composition and copywriting. Out of 26 boys examined, 24 had the requisite 13. The Second Class of the Central School was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic,
number of attendances. Of these 24 boys, 5 failed in dictation, 4 failed in composition, but none failed of the other subjects. I find that 7 failed in 1 subject only, and 2 failed in 2 subjects each. The result, therefore, is that, out of 24 boys, 2 failed to pass.
in
any
14. The First Class of the Central School was examined in reading, dictation, arithmetic, geogra phy, composition, history and copywriting. Out of 33 boys examined, 28 had the requisite number of attendances. I find that, out of 28 boys, none failed in reading, 4 failed in dictation, 7 failed in arithmetic, 5 failed in geography, 1 failed in composition, 5 failed in history and none failed in copywriting. I further find that 3 failed in 1 subject only, 4 failed in 2 subjects, 1 failed in 3 subjects and 2 failed in 4 subjects each. The result is, therefore, that, out of 28 boys examined in this high standard, in which Grant-in-Aid schools bring forward but very few boys, out of 28 boys examined, 7 failed to pass.
15. The result total of the examination of the Central School appears to me to have been satis- because, with the exception of the Diocesan School, which as a boarding school differs widely from factory. It is hardly possible to compare the Central School with any other school in the Colony, the Central School, none other in the Colony combines English and Chinese teaching. The Diocesan School, which devotes part of every afternoon to Chinese teaching and gives the rest of the day to English teaching, does not submit the result of the Chinese teaching to Government examination, as it receives no grant for it. All the other schools in the Colony, which teach English, devote the whole of their school hours exclusively to English teaching. The Central School surrenders 24 hours each day to Chinese teaching. Under these circumstances it seems to me that the above detailed results of the Central School examinations, which, with the exception of the case of the Lower School, compare favourably with the results of most Grant-in-Aid schools, are satisfactory. This favourable result, obtained under adverse circumstances, is due no doubt to the excellent organisation and discipline of the Central School, next to the superior qualifications of its trained Masters.
16. The ordinary Government schools, which teach no English, and the Village schools, subsidized by the Government by a small monthly grant as Aided Schools, all of which teach Chinese
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