ENG-1949 — Page 88

attention is being paid by the rural communities to education in their villages and this is taking the practical form of financial assistance in the building of new schools. The way in which the schools for the children of fishermen were being conducted was, in some cases, unsatisfactory and one is being taken over as a government school, the subsidy to another has been cancelled and a third has had a complete change of staff.

The Technical College has been functioning during the year with full time day courses in building and wireless telegraphy. The engineering course re-opened in October. The College also runs an evening department of twelve courses with an enrolment of 872. Most of the pupils attend- ing these evening classes are apprentices from the various dockyards. The Junior Technical School holds classes in English, mathematics and machine drawing in the Technical College premises. New accommodation will be available in September 1950.

There are also evening classes conducted under the Evening Institute with an enrolment of 1,019. Classes include instruction in book-keeping, shorthand, English for commer- cial students, pharmacy, teaching training and physical education. Lack of staff prevented at least a similar number of applicants from attending classes. The rural centres for adult education continue to attract entries although the number has fallen from 271 to 265. This is due to the fact that in one centre all those who are interested have now become literate, after two years of training, and no longer require classes. The centre is being moved to another district. Apart from absences due to seasonal occupations the attendance has been good. The syllabus includes read- ing, writing and simple arithmetic which are treated in such a way as to meet the requirements of adults in rural areas so that they can be applied to the man's own trade and his dealings with government notices and market prices. Follow up work is carried out by the staff of the Rural Training College.

The demand for teachers with training has been so great since the re-occupation that the Evening Institute classes have had to be revived even though this method of training is admittedly unsatisfactory. There are at present 160 teachers in training in two Colleges and 29 in the Normal Classes of the Evening Institute. These classes, however, are the last classes to be trained in this way and are now in their third and final year. The teachers for urban schools trained at Northcote Training College are of such a standard that they usually find employment at secondary level. This means that there is no local training which produces teachers for primary schools. There is urgent need for a training

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