THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH MARCH, 1865.
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14. Applications from persons desirous to be admitted as candidates are to be addressed to the Secretary to the Civil evice Commissioners, Dean's Yard, London, S.W.
Yore.-(1.) The Secretary of State for India in Council has authorized the Civil Service Commissioners to state that it is his intention to allow the sum of 1001, for the first year of probation and 2001. for the second year to each selected candidate who shall have passed the required Examinations to the satisfaction of the Commissioners, and shall have complied with such rules as may be laid down for the guidance of selected candidates.
(2.) All selected candidates will be required, at the commencement of the 2nd year of probation, to attend at the India Office, to make the necessary arrangements for entering into covenants (binding themselves, amongst other things, to refund in certain cases the amount of their allowance in case of their failing to proceed to India), and for giving a bond for 1,0007., jointly with two sureties, for the due fulfilment of the same. The stamps payable by civilians on their appointment amount to 31. 10s.
(3.) Candidates rejected at the Final Examination of 1867 will in no case be allowed to present themselves for re-examination.
No. 46.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Report of the Board of Education for 1864, is published for general information.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 20th March, 1865.
W. H. ALEXANDER, Acting Colonial Secretary,
HONGKONG, 11th March, 1865.
To HIS EXCELLENCY
SIR HERCULES G. K. ROBINSON, Knight,
Governor of Hongkong, Sc., &c.
The Board of Education have the honour to present to Your Excellency their Annual Report on the state of the Govern- ment Schools in the Island of Hongkong.
In doing so, they desire to report, first, on the Village Schools, and, secondly, on the Central School.
1. The Board regret that although there are not wanting certain indications of improvement in a few of the Village Schools, there are still many obstacles to be removed before Chinese Education in this Colony is productive of much good.
Among the obstacles which present themselves may be enumerated the following:-
1. The low moral tone of many of the masters, and the difficulty of supplying their places with a class of men superior
in this respect.
2. The extreme indifference of the poorer class of Chinese, in this Colony, to the education of their children.
3. The prejudices they entertain against any change in their own systern of teaching.
In reference to the first of these obstacles, it is often painful to find the indifference and obstinacy of the masters in the appear that work of teaching: their attempts at deception with regard to the School Rolls; and the efforts made to make it the whole blame of the inefficiency of the Schools lies not with them, but with the parents and children.
The difficulty of obtaining good masters-men of character for ability and truthfulness--is a source of deep regret; but is a difficulty which is almost insuperable in the present state of the Colony. It is scarcely possible for Europeans to culti- ate that acquaintance with the Chinese which would enable them to judge correctly of their character and attainments. This being the case, when a master is wanted, application must be made to Chinese in whom some degree of confidence may be placed; but even these are always ready to use the power thus delegated to them in behalf of some friend or acquaintance, rather than in favour of a man chosen simply for his character and learning.
The second obstacle-the indifference of the Chinese-cannot easily be accounted for, since no fee is charged at the Village Schools.
It is believed, however, that this arises also from the present peculiar state of the Colony. The children who do attend long principally to the boat-population. This being the case, in addition to the impossibility there is of turning education any practical account, their poverty renders them dependent, in some measure, on what can be gained by the manual labour of their children; and this not only makes the attendance irregular, but causes it to be of very short continuance.
The attendance at Chinese Schools is very fluctuating, and this peculiarity is not confined to those in Hongkong. The ambers increase from the Chinese New Year to the month of May, when the attendance is greatest. From that time to the
e of the year the numbers steadily decrease.
At the commencement of last year, of the 21 enrolled at one of the Schools 10 of the pupils were new; of the 22 at ther 12 were new; of the 34 at another 20 were new; and of the 5' at another no fewer than 40 were new. Many of the pupils of the previous year must therefore have left School, perhaps never to return, with no other attainment than the *mple retention in their memories of the names of a few hundred characters, of the meaning of which it is not too much to ay that they knew absolutely nothing.
This state of things would be very much improved if the children of the more respectable Chinese attended the Schools, at these seldom bring their families to the Colony; and, so long as this is the case, it is greatly to be feared that Education will not make that progress here which those interested in it could wish to see.
As regards the third obstacle mentioned, one great objection made by the Chinese to the Government Schools is that the stem of teaching by classes is insisted upon. The objection is generally stated thus:--“The hooks used in English Schools learnt, not so much perhaps for the information they contain, as that they are a convenient means of acquiring a practical Arledge of the language. Chinese books, on the other hand, are learnt solely for what they contain: the language in Which they are written is not that of every day life: a traditional explanation, to be communicated only by the master, is quired to render them intelligible: and, to be of any use, they must be committed to memory. A Chinese boy, therefore,
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