357
extraction an English education (combined with classical Chinese teaching in the case of 6 of these Schools with 1,601 scholars, mostly Chinese); 4 Schools gave to 186 Portuguese children a European education in the Portuguese language; 3 Schools gave to 146 Chinese children a European education in the Chinese language; and 101 Schools gave to 4,921 Chinese children a classical Chinese educa- tion. In other words, among 8,277 scholars under instruction in the year 1892 in 130 Schools under the supervision of the Education Department, 17.19 per cent. received in 16 Schools a purely English education; 19.34 per cent. received in 6 Schools an English education combined with Chinese classical teaching; 2.24 per cent. received in 4 Schools an elementary European education in the Portuguese language and 1.67 per cent. in 3 Schools a European education in the Chinese language; but the vast majority, viz., 59.45 per cent. received in 101 Schools a purely Chinese education. Comparing the foregoing figures with those of preceding years, say with the year 1887, (when the percentages were, in the above order, 11.51, 19.41, 3.74, 1.64, 63.64), it is evident that since the last six years purely English teaching has made rapid strides; Anglo-Chinese teaching (adhered to nowhere but in Govern- ment Schools) has remained almost stationary; purely Portuguese Schools have been losing ground; Chinese Schools giving a European education have barely maintained their position and purely Chinese teaching has changed but little. But the most noteworthy feature as to the forward movement of English education in the Colony is the fact that among the 1,423 scholars in 16 purely English Schools, the girls number 507 or 35.63 per cent. This proportion, though by no means satisfactory yet, is a very great advance on the condition of things a few years ago. The English education given in those Schools trenches from year to year more and more upon the ground of secondary education, and in this respect also it is observable that female education in the Colony is decidedly progressive, as is evidenced by the fact that, for the first time in the history of the Colony, some girls competed (and that successfully) with boys at the Local Oxford Examinations, and some are now preparing for the senior division of the same Examinations.
9. FEMALE EDUCATION.-The total of girls enrolled during the year 1892 in Schools of all descriptions, under the supervision of the Education Department, amounted to 2,942 or 35.54 per cent. of the total number of scholars enrolled in those Schools, as compared with 36.38 per cent." in 1891 and 32.41 per cent. in 1890. That the slight falling off in the proportion of girls under instruc- tion in 1892, as compared with the number of the preceding year, does not indicate more than that the increase of boys in 1892 was somewhat greater than the increase of girls, will be seen from the subjoined Table exhibiting the proportion of boys and girls under instruction in those Schools during the last twenty years. During the last three years the annual increase or decrease of scholars was as follows:-1890, decrease of 145 boys and increase of 208 girls; 1891, increase of 75 boys and 467 girls; 1892, increase of 454 boys and 151 girls.
PROPORTION of BOYS and GIRLS under instruction in Schools subject to the supervision of the Education Department.
Year.
Percentage of Scholars being Girls.
Scholars under instruction.
Population.
Total of
Scholars.
Boys.
Girls.
1873,
1874,
121,985
******
1,976
304
2,280
13.33
2,282
281.
2,563
10.96
1875,
•
2,177
429
2,606
16.46
1876,
139,144
2,379
543
2,922
18.58
1877,
2,520
624
3,144
19.84
1878,
2,544
578
3,122
18.51
1879,
d
2,850
610
3,460
17.63
1880,
160,402
3,187
699
3,886
17.98
1881,
3,364
859
4,223
20.34
1882,
166,433
3,941
1,241
5,182
23.94
1883,
173,475
4,120
1,477
5,597
26.38
1884,
181,529
4,238
1,647
5,885
27.98
1885,
190,594
4,329
1,700
6,029
28.19
1886,
200,990
4,161
1,683
5,844
28.79
1887,
212,951
4,195
1,779
5,974
29.77
1888,
215,800
4,342
1,916
6,258
30.77
1889,
194,482
4,991
2,116
7,107
29.77
1890,
4,846
2,324
7,170
32,41
1891,
224,814
4,881
2,791
7,672
36.38
1892,
231,662
5,335
2,942
8,277
35.54
10. ATTENDANCE IN SCHOOL AND NUMBER OF UNEDUCATED CHILDREN.-The population of Hongkong amounted, in the year 1892, according to the Registrar General's estimate, to 231,662 souls. The number of children of local school-age (6 to 16 years) consisted, in 1892, of about 30,987 children, viz., 16,322 boys and 14,665 girls. One-third of the whole number of the children of school-going age actually came under instruction during the year 1892, viz., 10,940 scholars, 8,723 of whom attended Public Schools and 2,217 attended Private Schools. The remaining two-thirds, or 20,047 children under 16 years of age may be put down as imperfectly educated, but at least one-half of them, though under 16 years of age and not attending any School in 1892, are probably children who, having from
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