OUR PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
. The statistics compiled by Inspector Purdie from the National Scholarship returns, and submitted by him yesterday to the Education Board, deserve some little attention from all interested directly or indirectly in the great work of primary education. The Junior Scholarships are awarded on papers set uniformly by the Education Department for all the different educational districts in the colony, and they thus afford practically the only means by which the primary school work in the different districts can be compared. Judged by this test, our readers should be gratified to learn, the work of the Auckland primary schools compares more than favourably with that of our Southern rivals. The total number of pupils who "qualified" on the last National Scholarship examination—that is, who became eligible for either a National Scholarship, a Board Scholarship, or a free place in a secondary school—was 160; while the rest of the colony provided only 235 pupils thus eligible. Otago supplied 49 '•qualified" pupils, and Wellington 47, while no other district approached these moderate totals. It is true that Auckland has a far larger number of primary school pupils on the rolls than any other district in the colony. But on making due allowance for this, we find that, in Auckland one pupil qualified for an average of 188, while in Hawke's Bay the average was 1 in 257, in Wellington 1 in 336, in Otago 1 in 395, in South Canterbury 1 in 639, and in North Canterbury lin 880. These figures appear to point to the very definite superiority of the Auckland primary schools over those of any other district in. the colony.
Possibly our readers may consider that we have an exaggerated estimate of Auckland's educational efficiency. But the facts presented by Inspector Purdie in a great variety of forms all seem to point in the same direction. Taking 1000 pupils as a basis of calculation, the figures show Auckland qualified at,the rate of 5.3, against 3.8 from Hawke's Bay, 2.9 from Wellington, 2.5 from Otagq, and an average of about 1.3 from Canterbury. The average pf "qualified" pupils per thouand for the whole colony is about three; but Auckland, as we have seen, secured almost 5i successes per thousand, or nearly double the average rate for the colony. Apart from the scholarship winners, who are, of course, as it were, the cream of the primary schools, it should be noticed that Auckland supplies much the largest proportion of those candidates who,' though not attaining the highest honours, have yet bcejT judged eligible for "free places" in the secondary schools. The figures for the chief districts are: —Auckland, 39; Wellington, 21; Hawke's Bay, 11; Otago, 11; North Canterbury, 4. That is to say, Auckland secured nearly as many "free places" on the National Scholarship examinations as the three next most successful districts together. This is certainly very eatistactory to tbe general public of Auckland, and doubly so to the teachers, inspectors, and others responsible for the organisation and management of our primary schools. Principally because of the large amount of money expended on education in the South, and the value of the endowments devoted to this object, there seems to be a general idea that our educational system is necessarily inferior to that provided in more highlyfavoured districts. But Inspector Purdie's figures prove conclusively that, tested by the only standard that can be applied to all the educational districts, Auckland can safely claim that her primary schools are at least equal, if not superior, to any others in the colony in all that makes for educational efficiency and success.
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Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 34, 8 February 1906, Page 4
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600OUR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 34, 8 February 1906, Page 4
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