THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 47, 23 August 1902, Page 7

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT.

The annual report of the Education Department was laid bofore Parliament yesterday. It is of v very bulky description, dealing at great length and with much detail with the various transactions of the Department for 1901, and its contents have naturally to be very closely summarised. Some of its main features are given below ; others are dealt with in another column.

The total average attendance at public schools, says the report, continues to improve. For 1900 it was 111,747, while last year it reached' 111,797, which i« the highest number attained in any year except 1897, and but for tho sickness prevalent in the third quarter all previous records would have been passed. There was an increase on the year 1900 of 687 ohildron under nine years of «ge, a decrease of 88 in those between nine and fourteen, and an increase of 28 in those over fourteen. Au increased roll number is expected this year. The regularity of attendance remains the same, being 84.1 per cent of the average roll number. There wore 2688 Maoris and half-castes attending public schools last year, and a table shows that the proportion of Maori ohildren receiving instruction is increasing. The number of schools open at tho end of 1901 was 1677, an increase of three during the year, and the mean average attendance per sohool' was 66.9. During the year 1901 39 schools wore closed. The proportion of pupil teachers to adults employed at the end of 190,1 was 1 to 2.79, or, roughly, five apprentices to fourteen adult teachers. The weakest in adults in proportion to p^upil teachers are Hawkes Bay and Wellington, wherb the pupil teachers are to the adults as 1 to 1.4 and 1 to 1.6 respectively, Wanganui being slightly bettor with 1 to 2. Tho strongest s in adult teachers are — Otago, 1 pupil teacher to 6.3 adults ; South Canterbury, 1 to 5; and Southland, 1 to 4.3.

The total of oil salaries at the rates paid at the end of the year waa £378,596. The average salary per teacher was therefore £99 14s 2d, which is £4 14s 7d moro than the corresponding amount for December, 1900. Tho marked increase in the average salary was principally, if' not entirely, due to the amounts distributed out of the^ special vote for increases to teachers' salaries. Out of the total number (2668) of adult teachers employed 2384 were holders of certificates, eleven others had passed tho certificate examination, 86 had gained a partial pass, and 35 had failed, while 152 had never, been examined by the Department. Ten were holders of licenses to teach.

The statement contained in the report as to the finances of Education Boards has already been published, having been given by the Hon. C. H. Mills in answer to a question in the House. The special vote for schools in newlysettled districts, etc, has been distributed this year in a similar mode to that followed in 1900. In future the special vote for new buildings will bo described in such a manner as to make it available not only for schools in newly-settled districts, but for all cases in whioh the need for fresh accommodation is clearly due to a marked increase of population. Tho total expenditure of the Boards under the head of scholarships amounted to £8331 ; the total paid to the boards for scholarship purposes by the Department was £8075.

The number of district high schools has increased from thirteen in December, 1900, to .Uiirty-seven. As the special grants made on account of pupils in the secondary class in these schools are sufliciently liberal to enable the Boards to abolish fees and to pay the additional staff required, it may be «aid that the problem of providing some degree of free secondary education to and girls in a large number of country districts is practically solved.