E.—l

10

Private Schools. Under section 170 of the Education Act, 1908, the teachers or managers of any private school may apply to have the school inspected, and the school becomes thereupon " subject to inspection." In general, if the school gives secondary instruction, it is, in accordance with the Act, inspected by an Inspector of the Education Department ; in all other cases—that is, generally, in the case of primary schools— inspection is made by an Inspector of the Education Board. In 1911, the number of private primary schools so inspected was 131 ; the total number of pupils present on the day of inspection was 11,398. TABLE Cα—lnspection of Private Schools during 1910. Xumbor Numi> Education District. of Schools Children present inspected, at Inspection. Auckland .. .. .. .. .. ..33 3,207 Taranaki .. .. .. .. .. 4 389 Wanganui .. .. .. .. .. ..11 863 Wellington .. .. .. .. .. ..11 1,384 Hawke's Bay .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 788 Marlboroiißh .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 189 Nelson .. .. .. .. .. 8 552 Grey 3 403 Westland 5 293 North Canterbury .. .. .. .. ..20 1,570 South Canterbury .. . . .. .. . . 5 462 Otago .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 830* Southland .. .. .. .. .. ..8 468 Totals ..131 11,398 ♦For 1909; figures tor 1910 not available. From the Ist January, 1911, the fact of a school being subject to inspection has an important significance which it did not have before, inasmuch as by section 150, subsection (5), of the Education Act, no instruction given to a child between seven and fourteen is considered to be efficient, so as to be legal ground of exemption from attendance at a public school, unless it is " to children in their own homes or in a school subject to inspection." Classification and Examination. (E.-2. Tables Dl to D 4, p:i<res -28 to 30.) Table D is a summary for the whole Dominion of Table Dl, which shows the numbers in the several classes for the various districts. The proportion of pupils in the preparatory classes has still further increased—37 '15 per cent, as against 36-66 per cent, for the year 1909.

TABLE D.—Classification of Pupils at Public Schools, December, 1910.

The following is a summary of the examination statistics for 1910 :— Total roll at time of annual examination ... ... ... 157,333 Present at examination ... ... ... ... ... 150,552 Present in preparatory classes ... ... ... ... 55,506 Present in classes S6 ... ... .. ... ... 9,454 Present in classes S7 ... ... ... ... .. 1,901 Standard VI certificates gained, viz.,— Certificates of proficiency ... ••• ... 6,499] 8 440 competency ... ... ... 1,941 f Details of these figures for each district are given in Table D 2.

Classes. Boye. Girls. Total. 'ercentages for Five Years. lass P .. . 81.. . 82.. „ S3 .. . S4 .. . So.. . 36 .. . 87.. 1906. 30,825 : 27,256 58,081 29-36 9,830 ; 9,203 19,033 1208 9,722 8,942 18,664 12-18 9,334 8,552 J-7,886 12-17 8,401 7,836 16,237 [ 11-79 7,488 6,787 14,220 | 10-59 5,032 '■ 4,595 9,627 i 8-24 1,245 ! 1,331 2,576 ' 359 1907. ' 1908. 1909. 1910. 31-11 34-27 I 3666 3715 12-05 11-96 1225 12-17 12-10 11-61 11-82 11-94 1204 11-98 11-34 11-44 11-46 11-20 10-78 10-39 10-24 9-65 908 910 7-79 6-87 0-56 6-16 3-21 2-46 151 1-65 Totals.. 81,822 74,502 [ 156,324 100-00 81,822 74,502 | 156,324 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 I