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been recognized by the Secretary of State. What funds can and ought to be set apart for such support is clearly a question to be decided locally with reference to the needs and circumstances each area. As such, it is outside the scope of a memorandum that deals only with general principles. Realizing, however, the present need for economy, we may point out that, without any increase in total expenditure, readjustment of grant, in accordance with the principles that are advocated, seems to be possible in areas where hitherto they have not been generally accepted. It is evident that they have not only been recognized but applied by several Governments,
The General Aim of Grants-in-Aid.
(1) Grants-in-aid are given for the extension and improvement of education within a given area. In their Memorandum on Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa,* issued with the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in March, 1925, the Advisory Committee on Native Education in the African Dependencies formulated the following statement of policy in con- nexion with such grants-in-aid :-
“Encouragement and Control of Voluntary Educational Effort. Government welcomes and will encourage all voluntary educational effort which conforms to the general policy. But it reserves to itself the general direction of educational policy and the supervision of all Educational Institutions, by inspec- tion and other means.
或者
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Grants-in-Aid.
The policy of encouragement of voluntary effort in educa- tion has as its corollary the establishment of a system of grants-in-aid to schools which conform to the prescribed regu- lations and attain the necessary standard. Provided that the required standard of educational efficiency is reached, aided schools should be regarded as filling a place in the scheme of education as important as the schools conducted by the Govern- ment itself, The utilization of efficient voluntary agencies economises the revenues available for educational purposes.
The conditions under which grants-in-aid are given should not be dependent on examination results."
We feel that this statement of policy is generally applicable to the Colonies other than African with which the Advisory Com- mittee on Education, as now constituted, is concerned. But we take this opportunity of emphasizing and expanding some of the principles contained in the statement.
* Cmd, 2374.
(2) It is not only because aided institutions may be a cheaper form of education than Government institutions that voluntary forts in education are to be encouraged. Private management is valuable in any system of education because it ensures that variety and play of personality which is important in every educational system. Moreover, a Government may hold that certain kinds of education are more suitably given by religious bodies than by the Government. Lastly, as is recognized in the Memorandum quoted above, the greatest importance must be attached in all areas, where contact with civilization tends to weaken tribal authority and the sanctions of existing beliefs, to religious beliefs and moral instruction. It is recognition of this need that impels Govern- ments to desire to assist forms of education which rest on the basis of religious beliefs.
The Control of Aided Education.
(3) The statement of policy to which we have referred does not necessarily imply a close or detailed control of aided educational institutions by the Government. Subject to the general direction of educational policy reserved to the Government in the Memo- randum that we have quoted, the utmost elasticity in school management and curricula is desirable if education is not to be robbed of all its colour and all the contributions that local circum- stances and personality are capable of making. If aid is given only to institutions that are managed and taught by the right kind of person, the more freedom that can be given to such managers and teachers the better. Frequent visits of Inspectors will, no doubt, be welcomed by the school authorities as a means of keep- ing in touch with the Department. But inspecting officers ought to be trained to ask themselves during visits to a school, not whether a certain feature is in accordance with a code, but whether it is educationally sound and practical.
Standard of Aided Education.
(4) The statement of policy that has been quoted above makes it clear that if "the required standard of educational efficiency is reached, aided schools should be regarded as filling a place in the scheme of education as important as the schools conducted by Government itself." It is most important that aided institutions should not be regarded as cheap and inferior substitutes for Govern- ment institutions, and that the latter should not be regarded as I model institutions if by that phrase is meant a standard that is unattainable by other schools. Definite acceptance of certain institutions on a permanently lower level of efficiency leads inevitably to waste of money and time; the pupils of such schools cannot be of real service to their country. There seems to be no convincing reason why a grants-in-aid code should relegate teachers
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