T
393
48
MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.
Grant-in-Aid Schems expressed the dissatis- faction generally felt, by Protestants as well as Catholics, with the saorifice of prin- ciple which the ultra-secular character of the Scheme demanded of Missionary School- managers. Dr. Stewart now proposed, in order to retain at least the Protestaut Mis- sion Schools under the Seheme, to raise the values of passes and to give a capitation grant on the basis of the average attend-
ance.
1877. St. Paul's College School, under the tuition of Mr. A. J. May, was continu- ed, during the year 1877, with an attend- ance of 183 boys, under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme. This was probably the highest attendance the School ever had. The Diocesan Home and Orphanage School, under Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, was this year also placed by Bishop Burdon under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme, attended by 33 boys and 15 girls, costing $4500. The institution received from Government its usual grant of $100 and the School moreover earned a grant of $226. St. John's Cathedral Sun- day School was attended by 35 boys and 16 girls. The two Chinese Schools of the Charoh Mission, at St. Stephen's and at Suiyingpun, were attended by an aggregate of 175 boys, costing $622. The four Box- ter Schools, whose expenses were up to the preceding year defrayed by the Baxter family, were now entirely provided for by the Female Education Society. They
bad, under the superintendenon of Miss Oxlad, now assisted by Miss Johnstone, an aggregate attendanes of 243 Chi- nese girls and cost $962. At the Berlin Foundling House, 40 girls were under Miss Schroeder's instruction, and a braneb- school was opened in High Street by Mr. Wong Chim, but the attendance is not re- corded. The Basel Mission bad thres Schools at work, during this year, under the Rev. G. Reuach, who thenceforth was mest euergetic in promoting the educational in- terests of this Mission, The Girls School had an attendance of 51 girls (all boarders),
costing $770, the new Boys School had 35 scholars costing $158, and the Shaukiwan School costing $117 was attended by 13 boys and 4 girls. The two London Mission Schools had an aggregate attendance of 110 Chinese boys in Wantsui and Taipingsban, and cost $370.
St. Joseph's College, under Brother Hidalph assisted by 6 Brothers of the Order, had an attendance of 198 scholars and cost $3,200. The Italian Convent Schools, hay- ing been re-organized, were now divided into a Young Ladies Boarding School with 22 scholars, a Boys Day School with 20 scholars, a Girls Day School with 115 scholars, an Orphan Sobool with 136 girls, au Infant School with 39 girls and a School for the Blind with 7 girls under instruction. The cost of the whole institution is given as amounting to $6,000, but how much of this sum is purely educational expenditure is not recorded. The Propaganda Society con- tinued its four Schools, viz. the Seminary with 10 students under the instruction of Bishop Raimondi, an Anglo-Chinese School with 32 boys under Mr. L. Leung, a Chinese School (in Wellington Street) with 34 boys under Mr. T. Leang, and the Spring Gar- dens Chinese School with 23 scholars under Mr. A. Leang. These four Schools cost the Society $1,810. The Industrial Schools of the Reformatory, under Brother Isfried and two Assistants, were attended by 61 boys and cost $4,600, The former Government grant appears now to have been withdrawn, At Spring Gardens, the Italian Sisters con- tinued their two Day Schools (connected with the Hospitium of St. Joseph), attended by 10 boys and 33 girls under the instruc tion of Sister Galli and 2 Assistants. These Schools cost $800. The French Sisters of the Asile de la sainte Enfance had 4 boys and 130 girls under instruction and received from Government a donation of $720. Mr. Ryrie having resigned (27th April, 1877) the managership of Mr. Hanlon's Secular School, this School (Victoria Boys School) now came under Roman Catholic manage-
MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.
ment, through Mr. J. J. dos Remedios, to- gether with Mrs. Hanlon's Girls School (Victoria English Girls School) and a new Portuguese School started by the Misses Remedios. These three Schools had en aggregate attendance of 66 hoys and 68 girls.
Not counting the attendances of the Cathedral Sunday School, we find that in the year 1877 the Roman Catholic Schools once more outstripped their Pro- testant competitors in educational energy, there being 1001 scholars (481 boys and 540 girls) under instruction in Roman Catho- lio Schools and 864 scholars (501 boys and 353 girls) in Protestants Schools.
In the Government Schools 2148 scholars (1891 boys and 257 girls) were enrolled at a cost of $19,137, the cost per scholar on the roll being $15.87 at the Central School, $7.55 in the outside Schools and $4.25 in the Aided Village Schools. On 998 Protestant and Catholic scholars in 14 Grant-in-Aid Schools the Government further spent 83 753 or $3.78 per scholar. In his report for the year 1877, the last of Dr. Stewart's regime as Head of the Education Department, Dr. Stewart referred to the amendments made in the Grant-in-Aid Scheme (by raising the monetary value of passes) and re- marked that the knowledge that the Amended Scheme was to contain more all- vantageous terms than the Original Scheme noted as a powerful stimulus to both Man- agers and Masters and the results were very satisfactory. No wonder: the value of a pass in the lowest Standard in purely Chi- nese Schools ($2 at the present day) had been raised from $2 to 85.
But this very increase of the value of passes in the lowest kind of Schools called forth renewed complaints on the part of Protestant and Catholic Managers who had Schools of a higher grade to bring under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme but were deterred from doing so by the determination of the Gov- ernment to force all Schools accepting Stato Aid into the strait-jacket of an exclusively
49
Prominent
secular Grant-in-Aid Scheme. among the protests put forth against the secular system adopted by the Government was a pamphlet published by an anonymous Roman Catholic author, entitled ' Dates and Events connected with the history (1857 to 1877) of education in Hongkong. Hong- kong, 1877,' Another anonymous paraphilet, 'The Central School-Can it justify its raison d'être,' probably by the same writer, argued that the Government should confine itself to provide elementary Schools for the education of the poor and leave the well-to-do middle classes to pay for the education of their chil- dren in higher grade Voluntary Schools. The writer urged the adoption of a policy which would give more scope to a liberal Grant-in-Aid Scheme instead of turning the Government into a schoolmaster.
All the flaws of the Grant-in-Aid Soheme referred to in the above pages were eagerly taken notice of by the newly-arrived Gover- nor Sir John Pope Hennessy, and when Dr. Stewart left the Colony on furlough, early in 1878, the offices of Headmaster and Inspector were separated and an advocate of 'secular education for Government Schools and re- ligious education for Missionary Schools' was appointed Inspector of Schools and Head of the Education Department. The Grant-in-Aid Scheme was now, with the approval of the Secretary of State, stripped of both its elementary and secular character, simply by striking out the words elementary and secular wherever they occurred in the Code. The limit of 20 scholars in at- tendance was also abolished, and Building Grant regulations were added. Otherwiss But the the Scheme was left as it stood. effect was very great. When Dr. Stewart retired from the Inspectorate of Schools, in March 1878, there were 12 Mission Schools and 2 Catholic Private Schools under the Grant-in-Aid Scheme, with a total of 996 scholars. The revised Scheme In 1880 there came into foros in 1879, were 27 Mission Schools (4 of which were
Catholic) with 1,808 scholars under the
Dril
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.