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who are not yet in school should be about 30,000, the cost of educating them on the same basis would be not more than $300,000 per annum, including presumably the cost of supervision.
In order to be able to carry out this work successfully, it might be necessary to find trustworthy bodies willing to undertake the work under the control of the department. A further need would be normal classes for the purpose of training the teachers on proper lines in suitable centres.
Taking the number of scholars as 30,000, and the average number of scholars taught by one teacher as thirty, it would mean that one thousand teachers must be found. This would involve a great task in the way of training, before thk teachers were up to what may be regarded as Government standards, but with patience and perseverance the task could be accomplished. The work need not wait on this account, as teachers could be trained as they are at present, while doing their work, perhaps in evening classes.
Compulsory education is not yet un fait accompli in Canton or elsewhere in China, but it is in the minds of many, and Hongkong cannot afford to be behind. hand in such a matter. It has been pointed out that this Colony has been pioneer in education, and it should retain that position, being a leader rather than a follower. As mentioned above, there is a strong body of people in Canton and in the province generally whose aim is to introduce compulsory education They see that a country cannot advance much without education, and so are awake to the need for this.
The present is a very good time for starting such a system in this Colony many Chinese are ready for such a movement, and the Census has just been take and from the results of that, it will be possible to get a fairly accurate estimate of the number of children of school age in the Colony. It would be easy to fix ages for the purpose of education as all Chinese ages are changed at the Chinese New Year. Chinese 8-16 would approximate to English 6-14 years of age.
It would be possible to inform all people coming to the Colony hereafter that they must make provision for the education of their children. There might be difficulties in the matter, but they would not be unsurmountable.
By means of such a system, children who were bad could be tried out in different schools, and dealt with so that they might not be a menace to the peace of the Colony.
It is not likely that many children would be brought to the Colony in order to secure the benefit of such primary education as is mentioned here, and the condition that might be imposed on new arrivals, to provide for the education of their children, would be an effective barrier.
These remarks are offered as a preliminary statement for discussion in con- nection with the problems of the child life of Hongkong.
Hongkong, 10th May, 1921.
(Sgd.) H. R. WELLS.
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Meeting held on the 23rd May, 1921.
THE HON. MR. E, A, IRVING, DIRECTOR OF Education,
Inake a statement on.
ATTENDED AND GAVE EVIDENCE.
Mr. Iriving: 1 am not quite clear as to what particular point I am asked to The most striking point of this document is the suggestion that we should have compulsory education here Well, Sir, if it were suggested to make education here compulsory to-morrow or next year the following tunin points would have to be considered. In the first place we should have to know how many children were not in attendance at our schools, which information we shall get as soon as the census report is published. It has been suggested by Mr. Wells, I do not know whether his guess is correct or not, that the number of school-less children is 30,000, and if we take this high figure it will mean that we shall have to have something like 1.000 more schools, allowing 30 children to a →chool.
Bay
The
The first point to be considered is the money. I have been working at some figures as to what the cost of the Government's assistance should be to schools-
'assistance', for I recognise that a certain amount should under existing cir- cumstances be raised from fees, but if education is going to be male compulsory. I do not see how fees can be charged. However, taking my figure on the basis of children subscribing something, I would put the cost of tenching these 30,000 children at $10,00 each a year, and that to begin with is $300,000 a year. next point to be considered is the question of housing these schools. It would need 1,000 dats. That would trench somewhat severely on the housing accom- modation of the Colony, and this seems to me in the present shortage a very serious point. However, that is not a point in which I as Director of Education, an very much interested. Now, to come to more technical points, is the question of stat.
At present I find the chief obstacle to vernacular education is the shortage of teachers. I have long impressed this view on the Government, and that is why two normal schools were opened, one for girls, which I hope by the end of next year will be turning out something like 40 teachers annually. That however, would be quite insufficient to deal with a sudden demand for a thousand teachers, and we should have to depend upon teachers without any experience or training whatever, many of whom would no doubt be worse than the worst in the existing schools, and this is saying a great deal. I do say that unless you can supply teachers reasonably trained, the pupils in your new schools will profit very little. A further point is the question of inspection, and this is a very serious point indleed. I have at present two excellent inspectors, one happens to be a Chinese, a graduate of Cambridge, but English or Chinese, men with the necessary qualitica. tions are not easy to get. They must have a good education, a knowledge of the theory of teaching, and before they are of any particular use, a very thorough knowledge of Hongkong Schools; I mean they must know what can be expected of such schools, which they can only learn by visiting hundreds of them, and they must, personally know the actual teachers in the various schools. Before I heard anything about this Commission I wrote to Government that we were in a precarious state, because I had only two Inspectors to cope with the great increase both here and in the New Territories, and in the event of a breakdown of either of them we should be in great difficulties, and I have asked the Government to provide next year for one additional man or possibly two. But my real difficulty is to get such men, and if it was a question of doubling or trebling the work in Hongkong and compulsory education would mean more than doubling and trebling), I have simply not got the men and I do not know where I could get them. These are the principal difficulties I should have to face when introducing compulsory education in Hongkong. In the first place there is the money to be provided, in the second place there is a lack of schools, teachers and inspectors.
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