EDUCATION REPORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2410, 10 May 1900, Page 51

EDUCATION REPORT.

"We are in receipt from the secretary (Mr P. G. Pryde) of the annual report of the Otago Education Board for the year 1599. From it we learn that at the close of 1£93 there were 21S schools in operation in the district. During the year one school was permanently close:!, and four new schools were opened. The school at Awakino was closed owing to the removal of the children of school age from the district. New schools were opened at Momona, Akatore Coast. Deep Stream, and Tokarahi. The number of schools in opeiation at the end of the year was 222. Owing to want of funds, the board was unable to build or sanction any new schools during the year. The following was the classification of the schools according to their average attendance: — Under 15 pupils, 29 ; 15 and under 20 pupils, 25 ; 20 and under 25 pupils, 21 ; 25 and under 50 pupils, 73 : 50 and under 75 pupils, 25 ; 75 and under 100 pupils, 15 ; 100 and under 150 pupils, 8; 150 and under 300 pupils, 10; 300 and under 500 pupils, 10 ; 500 and upwards, 6. Included in this number were twp aided as subsidised schools-, and one which, open during part of the year, was permanently closed before the end. There were in the board's service, on the 31st December, 518 teacher?. Of these, 81 (males) were heads of schools, 141 (57 males and 84 females) were sole teachers, 183 (48 ipales and 135 iemales) were assistants, 82 (27 males and 55 females) were pupil teachers, and 31 (female) yi ore teachers of sewing. The total number of teachers showed a decrease of 25 for the year. , The particulars as to attendance show that the total number of children who attended pchool in the district at all in the year was 26,263, of whom 5141 were in Dunedin and 21,122 elsewhere. The average daily attendance in Dunedin was 3445, and in all other schools 14,303— a total of 17,748. At the end of the year the total attendance was 20,603, of which 3621 was in Dunedin, and 16,787 outside it. The returns show a considerable falling-off in the attendance for the year. The figures are thus analysed in the report: —

There is a decrease of 702 in the number that attended at all duiing the year, while the average attendance shows a deciea&e of 78S. The average attendance of the schools in the district has fallen 1612 during the last two years, while the number that attended at all shows a falling off of 1118, and 1179 ie\\ er pupils were on the school lolls at the end of 1899 than at the end of 1897. It is difficult to account for this stste o{ matters. The district never was more prosperous than it has been during the past two years, and it is doubtful if during any previous period of similar duration the same number of new dwelling houses have been erected m the City of Dunedin. Theie are few. empty houses, and dwellings of all kinds are most difficult to get, and still the attendance of the city and suburban schools shows a staady decline year by year. This state of affairs affects the board's finances very materially, and suggests a social problem which appears very difficult to solve.

Irregular attendance is largely on the increase, and an amendment of the tiuancy clauses of the act is urgently needed to deal with the careless and apathetic paient who allows his children to 10am the stieet at all hours, or who, to gam a few shillings, dexsrivos his children ol their only opportunity of qualifying for intelligent citizenship.

The mspectois have in their reports again and again directed attention to the "educational importance of regular attendance. In their ! report for this year they say •' Irregular at- i tendance is the most distracting factor in our school economy. It retards the progress even of pupils who attend well; it depresses the spirit of tha schools ; it causes friction between teachers and pupils and between teachers ' and parents; and it adds immensely to the ! difficulty of discipline and control. It is, in- \ deed, an unmitigated evil. Countiy committees arc, not uauaturally, unwilling to face j the enforcement of the compulsory clauses, ' which, after all, is the only effective way with j inveterate defaulters. ' Some school committees are alive to the evils of u-iegular attendance, and make it an important pait of their duty, to look after the irregulars. They make the working condition of their schools in this j respect as favourable as possible, and in doing.] so materially improve their own financial posi- ,| tion; but there are .others who do not seem ' to realise the importance of a high average 1 attendance until their allowance fiom the , board is reduced and possibly their children lose the services of one of the teaching staff. Committees should remember that the income of the boaid is determined by the average at- ' tendance reported By the head teachers of their schools quarter by quarter, and that an income ! reduced by reduced average attendance neces- J sitates a reduced expenditure. That there is , necessity for energetic notion on the part rf the niEijoiity of committees is evident fiom the following ftguies. The average 1011 number for the year 20,814, and the average attendance was 17,748 — that is, throughout the year over 3000 children were daily absent from school. The atiend.aE.ce of these children

would have mcieased the expending powers of the board by £11,000. Of course such an attendance is not possible, but the attendance for last year falls very far below the possible. The highest attendance per cent, is 96, the lowest 39. In the several districts, the conditions affecting attendance so far as health and weather are concerned should be somewhat similir, but we find the attendances at schools in the same locality differing widely — 92 against 63, 90 against 73, 89 against 72, 05 against 65, 82 against 61, 76 against 59, 90 against 74, etc. Fifteen schools return average attendances of over 90 per cent., yielding a mean average of 92 per cent. Three of these are town schools, and nine of them city or suburban. Cambrians with 59 per cent., Kyeburn with 61, and Hamiltons with 64, have during the year been practically half-time schools. It would be well for committees whose attendance report is less than 80 per cent, for the quarter to examine the registers and" satisfy themselves that none of the absences have been preventable, that the regular attenders are not defrauded of their rights by the preventable inegiilar attendance of their schoolmates, and that the income of the board and of committees is not unnecessarily curtailed.

The amount expended by the board on scholarships during the year was £1275 12s 4d, of which the payments to 'scholarship holders absorbed £1231- Is Bd, and examination expenses £41 10s Bd. There are 46 pupils receiving free education at the Biga Schools in Dunedin in connection with the scholarship scheme. During the year 548 cases of alleged truancy were investigated, and 309 not>'c3s were served on parents. and guardians under section 5 of "The School Attendance Act, 1884." Two summonses were served, and two orders of the court obtained, under the same section; and 1 54 penally summonses were issued under section 7 of the act (dealing with parents or guardians, of children who had not attended school the number of times required by the act), with the result that 32 convictions were obtained, 13 cases were withdrawn on the production of exemption certificates, and four cases were dismissed. The fines for the year amounted to £5 4s.

The sum expendedrby the board during the year in teachers' salaries (including bonuses on classification) and bonuses for instructing pupil teachers was £59,795 3s 3d, the amount paid to school committee? for incidental expenses was £5494 2s 2d, and the amount expended in the erection, enlargement, and improvement of school buildings and the purchase of sites was £5010 -18s 2d. Upon the question of finance the report says: — " The falling off in the attendance for the past two years already lef erred to has resulted in a loss of income to the board of over £6300. The staffs of all the schools were brought <rictly into accord with the ccale, with the result that many deserving and hard-working teachers were thrown out of employment, and a few of the small schools had" to be closed. The allowances to committees for incidental expenses were also reduced. Economy was practised in every way possible, and, not withstanding, the "board finds that its income 'from the capitation grant is not sufficient to meet expenditure. Unless the Government grant the additional 5s per pupil, deducted in 1887, the board 'will be forced" to close some of the small schools which have been established and are maintained at great cost .to enable the children of settlers in remote and outlyingdistricts to receive education."

The report, focussing the results of the inspectors' examinations, shows that in Class X 565 pupils were presented during the year. In Standard VI, 1462 candidates were present at the examination, and' 1291 passed ; in Standard V, 153S passed out of 2167; in Standard IV, 200 D out of 24-70; in Standard 111, 224-1 out of 2676; in Standard 11, 2367 out of 244-3; and in Standard I, 2252 out of 2266. The percentage of passes and average age of those passing were respectively : —Standard VI, 83.3 per cent., 13 years 7 months; Standard V, 80.2 per cent., 12 years 5 months : Standard IV, 80.9 per cent., 12 year o ; Standard 111, 83.7 per cent., 10 years 3 months ; Standard IT. 96.9 per cent., 9 years 6 months ; Standard I, 99.4 per cent., 8 years 6 months. In Class P, 6279 children were presented. Tables are supplied showing the efficiency remarks in subjects, tmd these, the report says, do not support the theory that the X Class is doing little or no work of appreciable value.

The total number of student?- who attended the School of Art and Design during the session was 356. This total included 93 teachers and pupil teachers, 35 Training College students, 102 students who attended the day classes, and 156 who attended the evening classes. At the sixth annual examination for the London Science and Art department certificates, 28 students were examined in science subjects, of whom 10 obtained firstclass and 8 with second-class honours and 10 failed, and 209 were examined in out subjects, of whom 44 failed, while 10 passed, 65 received first-class and 90 received secondclass certificates. The net cost of the school for the year was £221 3& 3d. The number of pupils in attendance at the Training College was 43 , and the net cost of the institution to the hoard was £767 18s Bd.

The Inspectors, in their report, express their satisfaction that the system which imposed upon them the duty of determining the "passes" is now practically no more. Tbe gist of their remarks on the subject of school attendance has already been quoted, and as to the discipline and the morale of the schools, their report is that they are very good. The Inspectors remark on this point : Willing obedience, orderliness, honesty, good manners, and good temper are, ?o far as our observation extends, the rule within the limits of the school ground; and, though in the streets and on the roads we not infrequently note an absence of easy politeness, we hardly ever see an instance of actual rudeness. The factois operating an the ethical side of school life are (1) the influence of the teacher, and (2) the influence of home and local envirjiiment; and it is only when both of these make for good that we can leasonably expect to see good conduct exemplified in the totality of the child's life. In estimating conduct vv r e should kceiD this in view ; and, m considering + he relation of the teacher thereto, we should remember that the children only spend about oneseventh of their brief school-life within his ken.

The Inspectors strongly deprecate the suggestion that a teacher is harsh and cruel wl-o, when the discipline of love and persuasion fails to compel to right conduct, resorts to that of physical force. They say :

To maintain effective discipline in a class of from 60 to 80 pupils of as many different temperaments is no easy matter, and we should like to see those who make light of it try their hand at it for a day or two. Tlie average child has little love .for intellectual conquest; real mental discipline is disagreeable to him ; he shirks it whenever and wherever he can. But without mental discipline there is no education, no adequate training in what constitutes a large .part of life — viz., the doing of disagreeable work willingly and cheerfully. What follows? That with the average child there must be compulsion — wise compulsion it should be ; but compulsion aft

tho sains, — to dj with all hi* mi^ht what is dv. agreeable or evn repulsive to him On the subject of the X cla-3, the Inspectors, say : The presence of this class in i ;,unlry school obviously entails, w^ erp the subjects are efficiently taught, a large amount of extra york to the teacher, and such work, if efficiently done, should, we think, carry with it extra pay. To encourage advanced education 111 schools remote from high schools, the Education department might well double the grant for pupils who have passed the highest standard and are efficiently instructed in work of more advanced character than that provided for in the public school syllabus. The district high schools are only elementary schools with an advanced dei^nrtment, for instruction in which fees are charged to parents, and to which an extra grant is- made by the board. Schools with an X class are also elementary schools with an advanced department. Why should fees be chargeable

111 the one case and not in the other? and

why should the one and- not the other receive 1 an extra grant? To the former is given an extra grant with power to charge fees, to the i latter no extra grant and no power to charge I fees. Why this difference in the conditions o£

institutions of the same kind? We do not grudge the high schools their privileges. Oil the contrary, we wish they and their privileges could be multiplied ; but we contend that all schools that are similar in kind should enjoy similar privileges; that, in fact, since provision is made in the one class of school for mcieased payment for instruction in secondary subjects, provision should also be made for increased payment for the same kind of work m ihe other: To us there does not seem to bt rcom here for divided opinion. The question is : How to' provide- the means ? That question should, we reply, be faced and answered bj - the Ediication department as it has been faced and answered by the Home Education department — namely, by an increased grant, for the teaching of what is called the "' Ad vanced department, ' the class into which, if they remain at school, pass the children who have, obtained the merit certificate, and which, in its main features, corresponds to our X class. Its purpose is to prolong school life, and, bj making secondary education as accessible to the country child as to the town child, to cieate equality of opportunity to all the children of the land. This is precisely what ought to be the purpose of our X class. At Home, the authorities have created the department and piovided *he means to enable it to discharge its functions ; our authorities have dona the first and left undone the second. There, for the advanced department they have more thaa doubled the grant allowed for the department below it; here the grant remains the same. A double grant for the teaching oi secondary subjects would, last year, have increased th& board's revenue by more than fSOOO; and, if a similar grant had been made for all the years we have been teaching these subjects, tho board would not only have escaped the stress of its present impecuniosity, but would have been able to make provision ' for teaching is one school all the city children who wish to remain at school a year or two after massing theSixth Standard. We want X classes, advanced departments, superior primary schools, call them what you will; biU with the thing we must have the means with which to make it efficiently perform its functions. Who shall provide it?