Sessional_Paper_1921 — Page 141

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Meeting held on the 23rd May, 1921.

THE HON. MR. E. A. IRVING, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,

ATTENDED AND GAVE EVIDENCE.

Mr. Iriving: I am not quite clear as to what particular point I am asked to make a statement on. The most striking point of this document is the suggestion that we should have compulsory education here. Well, Sir, if it were suggested to make education here compulsory to-morrow or next year the following main points would have to be considered. In the first place we should have to know how many children were not in attendance at our schools, which information we shall get as soon as the census report is published. It has been suggested by Mr. Wells, I do not know whether his guess is correct or not, that the number of school-less children is 30,000, and if we take this high figure it will mean that we shall have to have something like 1,000 more schools, allowing 30 children to a school.

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The first point to be considered is the money. I have been working at some figures as to what the cost of the Government's assistance should be to schools-

say 'assistance', for I recognise that a certain amount should under existing cir- cumstances be raised from fees, but if education is going to be made compulsory. I do not see how fees can be charged. However, taking my figure on the basis of children subscribing something, I would put the cost of teaching these 30,000 children at $10.00 each a year, and that to begin with is $300,000 a year. next point to be considered is the question of housing these schools. It would need 1,000 flats. That would trench somewhat severely on the housing accom inodation of the Colony, and this seems to me in the present shortage a very serious point. However, that is not a point in which I as Director of Education, am very much interested. Now, to come to more technical points, is the question of staff. At present I find the chief obstacle to vernacular education is the shortage of teachers. I have long impressed this view on the Government, and that is why two normal schools were opened, one for girls, which I hope by the end of nex! year will be turning out something like 40 teachers annually. That however, would be quite insufficient to deal with a sudden demand for a thousand teachers, and we should have to depend upon teachers without any experience or training whatever, many of whom would no doubt be worse than the worst in the existing schools, and this is saying a great deal. I do say that unless you can supply teachers reasonably trained, the pupils in your new schools will profit very little. A further point is the question of inspection, and this is a very serious point indeed. I have at present two excellent inspectors, one happens to be a Chinese, a graduate of Cambridge, but English or Chinese, men with the necessary qualifica. tions are not easy to get. They must have a good education, a knowledge of the theory of reaching, and before they are of any particular use, a very thorough knowledge of Hongkong Schools; I mean they must know what can be expected of such schools, which they can only learn by visiting hundreds of them, and they must, personally know the actual teachers in the various schools. Before I heard anything about this Commission I wrote to Government that we were in a precarious state, because I had only two Inspectors to cope with the great increase both here and in the New Territories, and in the event of a breakdown of either of them we should be in great difficulties, and I have asked the Government to provide next year for one additional man or possibly two. But my real difficulty is to get such men, and if it was a question of doubling or trebling the work in Hongkong (and compulsory education would mean more than doubling and trebling), I have simply not got the men and I do not know where I could get them. These are the principal difficulties I should have to face when introducing compulsory education in Hongkong. In the first place there is the money to be provided, in the second place there is a lack of schools, teachers and inspectors.