E.—l.

17. LENGTH OF POST - PRIMARY COURSE. The returns compiled in 1935 by teachers show also the duration of the postprimary course taken by pupils who have now left school. Summarized, the position is as follows: —

Table Q1.

No returns have been obtained from post-primary schools giving the actual length of school life of each individual pupil, but from the information summarized in the above table it is possible to give an approximation of the average length of the school life of those pupils who left school in 1935. For this purpose a pupil leaving in his first year is taken to have a school life of one year and so on till those leaving in a fourth year or later are taken as four years only. Some pupils stay for five or six years, but this fact is compensated for when it is considered that many pupils leaving in their first and second year cannot be said to have a school life of one and two years respectively. The following figures are given, therefore, with the reservation that they are not compiled from exact information, but they are nevertheless not far from being correct: — Average Length of School Life. Y. M. Secondary schools .. .. .. .. .. 210 Combined schools .. .. .. .. . . ..28 Technical high and day schools .. .. .. ..22 . Secondary departments of district high schools . . .. ..23 All post-primary schools .. .. .. .. ..26 In the case of pupils who enter upon post-primary courses and leave during the same year, information has been obtained showing in months the duration of the school life of such pupils. The information received is tabulated in the table below. It will be noted that the totals are slightly below those shown as leaving in the first year in Table Q 1 preceding. This difference is due to the fact that Table Q 2 concerns those pupils who commenced and finished their courses in the same year, while Table Q 1 includes in " leaving in first year " pupils who. though in the first year of their course when they left, actually commenced that course in a previous calendar year or at a private secondary school.

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[ Secondary Combined Technical High Distriot Hi h Schools/ Schools. a^S s al Schools 8 School, I Number -j (£nt. N * mber - C P ent. Number ' Number - Cent, j Number -| C^nt. Leaving in first year .. 640 14 125 18 1,227 30 686 32 2,678 23 Leaving in second year 1,293 27 181 26 1,438 35 635 29 3,547 30 Leaving in third year .. 1,032 22 201 29 907 22 388 18 2,528 22 Leaving in fourth year 1,769 37 190 27 556 13 459 21 2,974 25 and later ■ ■ Totals, 1935 .. 4,734 100 697 100 4,128 100 2,168 100 11,727 100 Totals, 1934 .. 4,854 .. 724 .. 4,048 .. 1,945 .. 11,571 Difference .. —120 .. —27 .. +80 .. +223 .. +156