E.—l
17. LENGTH OF POST - PRIMARY COURSE. The returns compiled in 1938 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 1938. 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 .. .. .. • • • ■ ..27 Technical high and day schools .. .. .. ..22 Secondary departments of district high schools .. .. ..23 All post-primary schools .. .. • • • • ..26 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 1938 and who definitely left in the same Year.
Note. —As the various schools opened at different dates in 1937 owing to the infantile paralysis epidemic, and also in 1938 owing to the measles outbreak, the figures concerning the children leaving in each month of the course have not been included.
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Secondary Combined Schools. Schools. Day Schools. Sohools - Number - Cent. Number, Number. Number. <*£_ Number. Leaving in first year .. 683 13 194 18 1,190 27 640 32 2,707 22 Leaving in second year 1,357 27 321 31 1,717 40 608 31 4,003 32 Leaving in third year .. 1,216 24 311 29 964 22 336 17 2,827 22 Leaving in fourth year 1,868 36 232 22 482 11 385 20 2,967 24 or later Totals, 1938 .. 5,124 100 1058 100 4,353 100 1,969 100 12,504 100 Totals, 1937 .. 4,700 .. 772 .. 4,010 .. 1,645 .. 11,127 Difference .. +424 .. +286 .. +343 .. +324 .. +1,377
■ — Secondary Combined Technical District Tn+ala Schools. Schools. High Schools. High Schools. J-orais. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Totals 1938 .. 364 301 107 67 708 464 349 273 1,528 1,105 Totals, 1937 .. 318 338 89 47 731 451 270 233 1,408 1,069 Difierence .. +46 -37 +18 +20 -23 +13 +79 +40 +120 +36