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Second period 1860-1877.
Third period 1878-1900.
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In 1850 the Committee of Education says in reporting on the aided schools all the teachers are professed Christians; and it names Bishop Bone's catechism in a list of the school books-a Chinese translation compulsorily taught to the sons of unbelieving peasants by professed' converts.
At this period there were besides St. Andrew's 13 Government schools with an average attendance of 400; and 4 Missionary schools, 2 Protestant and 2 Roman Catholic, with an average attendance of less than 100 pupils.
The rudiments of English were first taught in the Government Schools at about this time.
Meanwhile a change of opinion had been gaining ground. Dr. Legge was opposed to every form of State religion; and when in 1859 he became predominant in the councils of education, he led a successful movement to modify the existing policy of the Government, which might have been summed up in the words, Christianity through letters: proselytising rather than education was the keynote.
The second period in the history of education in the Colony may be considered as dating from 1860. In that year Dr. Legge acted as Chairman of the Committee (now termed Board) of Education." Supported by the new Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, he merged certain of the small Government Schools into a Central School, which, under the name of Queen's College, is to-day the most important school in -Hongkong. The first headmaster, Dr. Stewart, was also appointed Inspector of
Schools to the Board. In 1865 the Board of Education was abolished.
This completed Dr. Legge's revolution. The Education Department was now no longer under the direction of the Bishop of Victoria; it became a civil department under the Inspector of Schools directly responsible to the Governor. The Diocesan School and Orphanage for Boys was founded in 1870.
The Roman Catholic Bishop Raimondi was a keen educationist. Under his influence the Roman Catholic Schools had by 1871 increased to thirteen in number with over 600 pupils, half of whom were girls. The West Point Reformatory was one of these Schools. In the same year the Protestant Missionary Schools could only shew an attendance of something over 100 children.
For all this time and till 1871 no financial support of any importance, was given to Missionary Schools. Apparently they charged no fees; and thus Hong Kong was in this happy position, that a very large part of its educational responsibilities was borne by charitably disposed persons at home.
The year 1872 is of importance as being the first in which a Grant was offered to schools belonging to the Christian Missions. A code was drawn up, containing a condition to which great importance appears to have been attached at the time: no religious instruction was allowed during four consecutive working hours each day. With 1877 the second period draws to a close.
Whilst in the first period the Government rivalled the missionaries in a race to Christianise the community by means of education, in the second, on the other hand, it confined itself to secular instruction, and, so far from supporting the missions, declined to associate with them, except on the clear understanding that money paid for education should not and could not be used for proselytising.
An amended Grant Code was issued in 1878 which stipulated that Code subjects should be taught for four hours daily, but otherwise left it absolutely in the hands of the managers, how and when religious instruction should be given. Thenceforward Government and Protestant and Roman Catholic Schools have worked harmoniously side by side, with nothing worse than a very friendly rivalry between them.
Dr. Eitel was appointed Inspector of Schools in 1879. He held the popular laissez-faire views of his day, and was opposed to state schools where avoidable. In the one year 1898 eleven Government Schools were closed on the ground that they had been rendered unnecessary by new Grant Schools.
Dr. Eitel did not, like Dr. Stewart, combine the duties of Inspector of Schools and Headmaster Queen's College. Dr. Wright was appointed Headmaster. He and Dr. Eitel were unable to agree in their views, with the result that Queen's College was made independent of the Inspector of Schools. Thus education in the Colony became a thing of divided counsels for many years, and though the system no longer exists some of its evil effects are hardly obliterated.
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In 1894 the Grant Code was amended and provision made for Building Grants.
In 1897 Dr. Eitel was succeeded by Mr. A. W. Brewin, who was succeeded by the writer* in 1901.
In that year an Fourth period
The fourth period may be considered to date from 1901. Education Committee consisting of Mr. Brewin, Registrar-General, Dr. Ho Kai, and 1901-1910. the writer, reported at considerable length upon the unsatisfactory condition of educa- tion in the Colony, and many of the reforms since instituted may be referred back to this Committee. It emphasised the need of introducing oral methods in the teaching of English, modern ideas respecting history and geography, and the cultivation by Chinese students of their own language.
The system of giving grants which had hitherto been entirely and unashamedly by results was brought more closely into accord with modern ideas, and the Grant Code amended accordingly. The need for more practical and better teaching in the Vernacular Schools was insisted on.
The Technical Institute was founded in 1907, under the governorship of Sir Matthew Nathan. Upon the retirement of Dr. Wright in 1909 the Department was reconsolidated under one Head, the Director of Education.
The idea of founding a University in Hongkong was by no means new; but the Hong rapid advance of English education during the last preceding years had made it s practical possibility. In the governship of Sir F. Lugard (1907-1912) the liberality of the late Sir Hormusjee Moody supplied a building; and public interest now deeply stirred, not only locally but in China and among Chinese in the Straits and elsewhere abroad, provided the funds. The Hongkong University was opened in 1911, and with Hong Kong it the present chapter of education in Hongkong begins. A bold piece of legislation in 1918-the Education Ordinance-established the compulsory inspection of schools.
The total nett expenditure on education in 1901 was $60,663, in 1913
it was $269,164, of which only about $15,000 was spent on primary Vernacular Schools, i.e., roughly speaking, on primary education.
In the period 1901-1913 the average number of pupils in Government and Grant Schools receiving instruction through the medium of the English language (roughly the equivalent of secondary education) increased by 60 per cent., while the corres- ponding increase for Vernacular Schools was only 10 per cent. In the same period the English-teaching Staff in Government Schools increased from 27 to 98 in number." It will be noticed from the concluding paragraphs of the above extract that a very small proportion of the Government's expenditure on education was at that time devoted to primary education. This continues to be so, and is a feature of the Colony's educational system which is open to criticism, for the reason amongst others that, broadly speaking, primary education is all that the poorer Chinese can afford, and the Government is therefore giving least help to those who are least able to help themselves. However, the terms primary and secondary are used in a somewhat arbitrary and slightly confusing manner in Hong Kong, and their use in this Report will therefore as far as possible be avoided.
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The most interesting events in education since 1914 may be summed up as follows. The training of graduate teachers by Hongong University has begun to exercise an important influence on the Government schools in which they are employed. Other developments in the training of teachers have been the opening of a Normal School for women in 1921, and another for men, on the mainland, in 1926. King's College, now the biggest of the Government schools, was rehoused in fine and costly new premises in 1928. The opening of a Junior Technical School in 1983, and the fact that plans have been passed for a new Technical Institute, show that serious attention is now being given to technical education, formerly almost entirely neglected.
Another important change was made in 1988, the effects of which it is too early to estimate. Up till then the scholars in Government and Grant-in-Aid school had been entered for the Cambridge Junior Local Examination in Class 2, and for Hong Kong University's Matriculation in Class I, the top class of the schools. It was then decided, for reasons which will be given later in this Report, to substitute for these two examinations a single School Certificate Examination, to be taken by all scholars in Class I, and carrying, under certain conditions, Hong Kong Matriculation with it. Though this examination, which is to be con- ducted by the University, will be held for the first time in June, 1935, its syllabus has exercised throughout 1984 a dominating influence over the work of the schools.
* Mr. E. Irving.
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