352
community and are completely independent of the Government. The table shows that the Chinese have no difficulty in finding a conveniently situated secular school to which to send their children, but the class from which the children are drawn who attend the public Chinese Schools have no hesitation in sending their children to a school where Christianity is taught, and it is noticeable that the average number of pupils in Grant-in-Aid Schools (exclusive of Homes an1 Orphanages), which give a Chinese education is 50 compared with 22 in the Kai-fong Schools. The European community is in part less fortunately situated, as the inhabitants of Kowloon have no convenient schoo!-either secular or religious-to which to send their children.
Table showing the local distribution of Secular and Religious Schools in the year 1897.
Districts
exclusive of the Peak Settlement.
Grant-
Govern-
Grand
Kaifong. in-
Private.
Private.
Total.
Total.
ment.
Total.
Aid.
Secular Schools.
Scholars.
Secular Schools.
Scholars.
Rel. Schools.
Scholars.
Secular Schools.
Scholars.
Rel. Schools.
Scholars.
Secular Schools.
1. & II. Kennedy Town and Shek-
tongtsui,
III. Saiyingpun,
IV. & V. Taipingshan,
VI. Chungwan,
VII. & VIII. Hawan & Wantsai,.
IX. and X. Bowrington & Sookon-
pó,
7 243
:
2192 11 | 252 15981
19491 11 919
1 35
J
:
3 1,700 39 | 811| 26 |1,974
2257 9 224 10 | 465
ཆལུ
1 35 2 37
3163
XI. Villages of Hongkong,
XII. Villages of British Kowloon,
7 210 7132
9354
1 63 16 300 12 423
---
:
:
*SJ0[1{99
School
of all
Descriptions.
Rel. Schools.
Scholars.
Schools.
6.18[૦૧૦$
H
58
8 301
8
301
:
:
13 444 15
981 28
1,425
:
4239
223
20 526
14 919 34
1,445
42 2,855
30 2,213
72
5,068
2 255 11 481
12 720 23
1,201
92
:
:
:
:..
26
3 163 6
255
14
342 9
354 23
696
...
17
363 12 423 29
786
Total...
16 2,477 103 2,247 96 5,522
35
7
552 | 120 | 5,103 103 6,074 | 223 11,177
8. EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION.-In the year 1897 the Government expended $72,984 on education, as compared with $76,501 in 1896. After deducting revenue obtained from school fees, &c., the nett expenditure for the year was $58,645.75 or 2.18 per cent. of the revenue, as compared with 2.52 per cent. in 1896 and 3.01 per cent. in 1887. The sums expended on schools under the Inspectorate were as follows:-Belilios Public School (after deducting school fees) $2,966.25; fourteen other Government schools $5,458.16; 96 Grant-in-aid Schools (for 1897) $21,210.38. In the Belilios Public School the cost to the Government of the education of each scholar under instruction was $15.77, in the other Government schools $5.06, and in the Graut-in-aid Schools $3.84. In addition to the grant, the Societies which maintain Grant-in-aid Schools expended on them during the year a sum of $57,070.63.
>
9. NATURE OF THE EDUCATION GIVEN IN THE SCHOOLS IN THE COLONY.-There is no change to record under this heading. The Government has been unable as yet to give effect to its resolve to encourage an English education in future for the Chinese population. In schools which give an English education the syllabus is founded on that in force in English primary schools, and the text- books used are also those in use at home. But it is questionable whether either syllabus or books are suited for the teaching of English to Chinese. The text-book most in use in the First Standard seems to have been compiled with the object of including as few words as possible. Any boy of twelve-and that is the age at which Chinese begin to study English-should be able to learn twice or three times as many words in the course of a year. I do not see how the same methods and books can be suitable both for English and Chinese boys, nor how, from an educational point of view, the best results can be obtained in a school where boys of both nationalities are taught in the same class, and I doubt whether there are compensating social advantages to be gained from the association. In purely Chinese schools the education approximates very closely to that given in schools in China It is true that geography (of a very elementary kind) is taught in the higher standards and arithmetic, as an extra subject, but in the teaching of Chinese itself there has been no advance for the last twenty years.
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