E—l.

17. LENGTH OF POST-PRIMARY COURSE. The returns compiled in 1937 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 1937. 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 beingcorrect : Average Length of School Life. Y. M. Secondary schools .. .. .. ■ ■ • • ..29 Combined schools .. . • •. • • • • ..27 Technical high and day schools .. .. .. ..21 Secondary departments of district high schools .. .. ..23 All post-primary schools .. .. • • •. ..25 Table Q 2 concerns those pupils who commenced and finished their courses in the same year, while Table Q 1 also 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. This explains the difference in the figures in the two tables.

Table Q2. —Number of Children who commenced Post-primary Courses in 1937 and who definitely left in the same Year.

Note. —As the schools opened at various dates owing to the infantile paralysis epidemic, the figures concerning the children leaving in each month of the course have not been included this year.

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Secondary j Combined amf Techmcii' D " n f fi igh All Schools. Sohoo!s - | Sch00ls - Day Schools. , Schools ' Number. ! Number. | j Number, i I Number. I Number, i Leaving in first year .. ■ 681 15 138 ! 18 1,231 31 530 32 2,580 23 Leaving in second year j 1,270 27 215 j 28 1,572 39 488 30 3,545 32 Leaving in third year .. j 1,182 25 227 j 29 870 22 287 17 2,o66 23 Leaving in fourth year 1,567 33 192 25 337 8 340 21 2,436 22 and later Totals, 1937 .. 4,700 100 772 100 4,010 100 1,645 100 11,127 100 Totals, 1936 .. 5,912 .. 906 .. 4,655 .. 2,026 .. 13,499 Difference .. —1,212 .. —134 .. —645 .. —381 .. 2,372

Secondary Combined Technical District Tntnla Schools. Schools. High Schools. High Schools. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Totals, 1937 .. 318 338 89 47 731 451 270 233 1,408 1,069 Totals, 1936 .. 443 377 96 43 895 579 348 302 1,782 1,301 Difference .. —125 —39 —7 +4 —164 —128 —78 —69 —374 £32