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Appendix D.
HYGIENE.
Report on the Study of Hygiene in Hongkong Schools 1907.
EXAMINATIONS FOR MASTERS.
Instruction in hygiene has been continued during the past year and this subject now figures in every school syllabus. Both masters and pupils have again offered themselves for examination in the subject though not to such an extent as in 1906. Eleven masters, 3 Europeans and 8 Chinese from the District Schools entered for the examination in bygiene held under the auspices of the local branch of the Royal Sanitary Institute in April last and four Messrs CURWEN, PARKIN, MORRIS and YOUNG HEE obtained certificates.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
During the past year Dr. PEARSE's Manual on Hygiene has been translated into Chinese and is now in use in all the Vernacular Grant-in-Aid School,
STUDY OF THE Subject in SCHOOLS.
The subject is now being taught in all English and Anglo-Chinese Schools without exception. It is also a subject of study in all the Vernacular Grant Schools from Standard IV upwards. Test papers will be set at the next Annual Examination of the Vernacular Grant Schools for the first time. Table I shows the total number of pupils in English and Anglo-Chinese Schools under instruction in hygiene.
EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS.
Early in the year Sir MATTHEW NATHAN who very generously provided the individual prizes for the Advanced and Elementary Courses in hygiene for two years, left the Colony. and it was decided to discontinue the competition in the Advanced Course. The individual prizes in the Team Competition for elementary hygiene were also given up at the same time. The shield however remained to be competed for. 7 teams only 6 from Boys' Schools and 1 from a Girls' School as compared with 14 in 1906 entered for the competition held in December 1907, and the shield was again won by the Diocesan Boys School. Table I gives the schools in order of merit with an analysis of the number of marks obtained. Several of the schools whose school year ends in June failed to enter this year on the ground that the schools which promoted at Christmas had their pupils under instruction in Standard V for a whole year before the competition and thus gained a very material advantage over them; others had possibly lost interest in the competition as the individual prizes were no longer offered. Before the next competition it is proposed to re-draft the rules governing the eligibility of candidates for the Team Competition and it is to be hoped that greater interest in the Competition will be shown. Government and Grant Schools which enter teams for the Competition are under certain conditions exempt from any further examination in hygiene during the ensuing twelve months.
Examinations in hygiene will in future be conducted at the time of the Aunual Inspec- tion at all schools which enter no team for the Shield Competition or which fail to obtain 40 per cent. of marks in this Competition.
20th March, 1908.
E. D. C. WOLFE.
Inspector of Schools.
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