PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 91, 19 April 1939, Page 4

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

ROLLS BOWH THE '{■ YEARS ! WELLINGTON DISTRICT i Eecently at a school function, a mem- • ber of the Otagp Education Board : quoted returns to show that in the 21 ■ years between 1916 and 1937 there had been a decrease of 3500 in the. number of pupils attending primary school in the Otago district. He added that last year the total had dropped another ' 340 compared with the previous twelve months, and he commented that if the decline continued he did not know where they would be in the next thirty years or so. • The Otago figures prompted, an inquiry as to the position in .the Wellington education district. average roll numbers for this district do not reveal a similar state of affairs; in the last 20 years, from 1918 to, 1938, there lias been an increase of 2355 pupils. ", ■ However, there has not been a general upward trend during the past 15 years. In 1918, for instance, the average roll number in the Wellington education district was 24,058; in 1923 it was 26,411, and by 1928 it had risen to 27,788, which is shown as the peak total in the returns that were made available to "The Post." Five years later, in 1933, that-total had dropped to 25,785. In this period the depression years fell, and it is not surprising that attendances should fall, the decline being approximately 2000. By 1938 the total had risen again, but only to the extent of 628 pupils, and last year's total of 26,413 was approximately the same as it was in 1923, 15 years ago.: Although, therefore, for the past 20 years the figures for 1938 sho# an increase of over 2000, pupils ther« is practically no. change in the figures for last year and those for 1923—the last 15 years. The total average roll in 1883 was 6840, and in the 55 years between then and last year the increase was^ 19,573. In the 20 years between 1883 and 1903 the increase was 8414, whereas in the 20 years between 1918 and 1938 the increase was only 2355. It will surprise many no doubt that the greatest increase, in any of the five-year periods shown in the table occurred during the Great War, the increase between 1913 and 1918 being 5585. ■ The table, showing the total averagt roll in each case, is as follows:— . Year. . '' " Pupils. 1883 ......v 6,840 1893 12,254 1903 ................. k i 5,254 1908 16,564 1913 18,473 1918 24,058 1923 26,411 1928 27,788 1933 .. 25,785 1938 26,413