3

E.—6

(a.) Technical High Schools. Number on roll at end of 1919 : Boys, 1,438 ; girls, 1,488 : total .. .... 2,926 (d.) Registered Private Secondary Schools. Number on roll at end of 1919 : Boys, 595 ; girls, 902 : total .. .. 1,497 Average attendance, 1919 .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,409 J Number between twelve and fifteen years of age .. .. .. 554 | [Number over fifteen years of age .. .. .. .. .. 942) Number of teachers : Male, 30 ; female, 48 : total .. .. .. 78 (e.) Secondary Schools for Maoris. Number on roll at end of 1919 .. .. .. .. .. 434 Average attendance, 1919 .. .. . . .. .. .. 405 The total number of children, therefore, receiving secondary education in 1919 was 16,427, showing an increase of 8 per cent, over the corresponding figure for the previous year, and an increase of nearly 50 per cent, over the figure of five years ago. Of 10,639 children who left the primary schools having passed S6 in 1918, 1,458 entered the secondary departments of district high schools, 3,735 secondary schools, and 1,521 technical high schools ; hence a total of 6,714 children, or 63 per cent, of those who left the primary schools having passed S6, in 1918, or 44 per cent, of the whole number that left school in that year, entered upon an education of a secondary nature at one of the types of school mentioned. In addition to those enumerated, 2,687 children proceeded from the primary schools to evening technical classes. Of these 1,798 had passed. Sβ and 889 had not done so. The average length of stay of boys at secondary schools (group (a) above) is two years and ten months, and of girls two years and eight months. The following figures show the percentage of children leaving the secondary schools at the stages indicated : —- Boys. Girls. (a.) Percentage leaving at end of first year or during second year 23 26 (b.) ~ second „ third „ 23 25 (c.) „ third „ fourth „ ..19 20 (d.) „ fourth „ fifth „ .. 23 20 (e.) ~ fifth ~ sixth „ .. 9 6 (/.) Percentage remaining at end of sixth year .. .. .. 3 3 The most regrettable fact apparent from the above figures is that one-quarter of the pupils entering secondary schools remain for only one year's tuition. As the curricula of secondary schools are framed with the view of at least a two-years course being taken, the instruction received by these pupils can be of little value. It is further noted that nearly another 25 per cent, of the pupils leave at the end of the second year, at the termination of their junior free places. In order that the greatest possible benefit may be obtained from this short period of secondary education, secondary schools, as a rule, now provide courses suitable for pupils leaving school at this stage. No appreciable increase in the average length of stay at secondary schools appears to have taken place during recent years, the larger numbers remaining for a longer period being merely in proportion to the increased roll numbers. Curriculum of Secondary Schools and District High Schools. (Tables Kl2 and L3.) Although there are no departmental regulations directly governing the curriculum of secondary schools, the regulations defining the subjects of instruction to be taught to free-place holders and the prescribed syllabuses of the various public examinations to a large extent control the character of the courses of work undertaken. Instruction must be provided for junior-free-place holders in English, history and civics, arithmetic, mathematics, a branch of science, and in two additional subjects which may be one or two foreign languages, science subjects, or some such subject as commercial work, woodwork, drawing, &c. The study of home science is compulsory for every girl holding a junior free place. In addition to the general or professional course, commercial, agricultural, and domestic courses are provided at most secondary schools. General courses designed for pupils remaining at school for a limited period and not following an academic career are also provided —the study of Latin and frequently of French, also, especially in the case of girls, of mathematics being excluded from these courses. From, an examination of the numbers of secondary-school pupils studying various subjects, it appears that Latin is now taken by only 55 per cent, of the boys and by 37 per cent, of the girls, while French is taken by 88 per cent, of the boys and by 94 per cent, of the girls. 719 boys, or 15 per cent., take agriculture as a subject,