STATE EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13726, 16 April 1908, Page 6

STATE EDUCATION.

AUCKLAND BOARDS WORK

A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT

A lengthy report on the proceedings of the Auckland Education Board during the year 1907 was presented to yesterday's meeting of the Board. The report state* that the cumber of schools in operation at the end of the year was 484. including 82 schools taught halftime. Four school? were permanently closed during the year, namely, Ararimu, Oio, CWniii. and Whakahara. Four schools in the county of Waitowo were taken over from the Taranaki Board, and two schools on the Main Trunk railway Hive were transferred to the Wanganui Board. in eight, schools arrangements were made for ferrying children to and from school. It had not been found practicable to arrange for the conveyance of children by road, owing to the insufficiency of the grant for the purple, and to the condition of the roads- in many of the outlying settlements-. The scholarships under tenure at the end of 1907 were: Junior national. 14; junior district, 68; senior district, 24: total. 105. There were 10 district high schools, at which there were 379 pupils at the ent- of i),, vear. Thirty-six student? attended the Training College during the year, i 'i'weuty-seven students completed the two j years of their ttfining, and all except two ! were now leaching ii> the public schools. : The building now being elected would af- ! ford accommodation tor 80 students. Due attention was given to the require- ! menu of the Act in respect of physical and { military drill. In most of the schools i exercises were practised daily. Military I drill was taught whenever possible, and i there were 57 schools in which cadet corps I had been organised. It was desired that provision be made by regulations for the military instruction of cadets after leaving school. The report of the director showed that no fewer than 1150 student* were in attendance at the Technical College* during the year. A day school for boys and girls had been established, with an attendance of 170. The three manual training schools at Auckland, and those at the Thames and Whangarei, had provided instruction =;: cookery and woodwork for the boys and girls of the upper standards of the primary schools. Instruction in brush-drawing oi other handwork had been given in 231 schools. Systematic instruction classes for the instruction of teachers had been held in various centres. Technical continuation classes had been established at the larger centres, and ciasse* for the technical training of teachers had been held at Auckland. Thames, and Whangarei.

Nine schools were built and 11 schools enlarged during the 'year. Four residences were erected for teachers, and our- was enlarged. The Board sustained a serious loss by tli» death of Mr. R. M. Watt, who for 15 years acted as architect. His former partner, Mr. John Mitchell, has been obliged, through ill-health, to resign bis office as architect of new school buildings. These gentlemen had raised the school buildings of the district to a very high standard. It was believed that the same standard would be maintained by the new architect, Mr. John Fan-ell.

At the end of the year there were 33,174 scholars enrolled in the various schools, being 719 more than the number in December. 1906. The number of Maori and halfcaste scholars was 2144 in attendance at 238 schools. The yearly average attendance was 28.057, bein«; less than that for the previous year. This decrease was due to the widespread prevalence of epidemics. The truant inspector's work during the year included 351 visits to schools, the examination of 3234 returns, and the issue of 2229 notices to parents. There were 294 informations laid against parents for non-compli-ance with the provisions of the Act, and the number of convictions was 206 22 cases were withdrawn, awl none were dismissed. The number of teachers employed in December, 1907, was 947—males, 429 ; females, 518. This number includes 160 pupil-teachers. There are thus 787 teachers above pupil-teacher rank, and of these 187 are not yet fully certificated. The Board had experience I no little difficulty in providir.; teachers for the smaller country schools.

It was resolved to forward the report to the Minister for Education.