REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF OTAGO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 56, 23 May 1874, Page 7

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF OTAGO.

The Report of the Education Department for the year 1873 now lies before us. From this document it appears" that during last year there were in operation in the Province 143 elementary schools, having- 221 teachers, 11,451 pupils, ?and an average daily attendance of 7,425. Of these 11,451 pupils, 6,242 were* boys, and 5,209, girls Of the 221 teachers, 144 were schoolmasters, and 17 male pupil teachers - total male teachers, 151 ; 36 schoolmistresses, 9 teachers of sewing, and 25 female pupil teachers : total female teachers, 60. Besides the elementary schools, amongst which are classed 5 grammar schools, there were two high schools in Dunedin. The Rector of the Otago High School reported that the average quarterly enrolment of boys was between 107 and 108; and the Lady Principle reported that at the Girls' Schools the average quarterly enrolment was 1 26. At the end of the year there were 17 pupils resident with the Lady Principle ; but there were none resident with the Rector. In the elementary schools, 1008 were learning the higher rules of arithmetic ; 257, algebra and geometry ; 4315, English grammar ; 2354, British history ; 353, Latin ; 22, Greek ; 270, French ; 4867, geography ; 345, book-keeping ; 1997, mapping; 2036, sewing (girls); and 2768 singing from notes. The total expenditure on District Schools amounted during 1873, to £30,169 6s 9d ; of which sum the Government contributed £17,452 15s 6d : whilst the several districts raised from school fees £10,642 3s 2d, and from contributions, £2,074 8s Id; total, £12,716 11s 3d. To this is to be added the expenditure aud receipts of the two High Schools. The expenditure of these amounted to £3,333 10s lOd ; of which sum the Government contributed £1607 10s 6d ; the balance £1726 0s 4d was made up from the fees of the pupils. There were also 9 provincial scholars receiving 1 free education, and a payment each of £30 per annum for three years. The total number of pupils attending Government schools i in the province, amounted to 11,693 ; the total expenditure, independently of buildings, to £33,728 17s 7d ; of which the Government contributed £19,330 6s; and school fees and j voluntary contributions amounted to £16,442 11s 7. The I voluntary contributions, however, are small, amounting to I only £2074 8s Id. These figures would be incomplete did ! we not also state that last year the Provincial Council voted j a sum of £20,000, for school buildings. There is one I other statement necessary, — now that the site and buildings ' have been provided at the public expense, the girls' High i School is nearly self-supporting, but not altogether so ; it is i btill several hundred pounds behind the expenditure : but the I bo\ s' High School has put the public to an expense of more 1 than £1300, to help to educate 108 lads — the sons of well-to 1 do people — after having provided school buildings, «fee. for , them. I No one can read the above statement without coming to I the conclusion that the Provincial Governmeut of Otago, and 1 its people, have made great and generous efforts in the cause 'of education. Independently of the very large university ' endowments, an expenditure of beyond £50,000 in one year , on popular education is very large indeed for a population of ! 30,000 souls. And a school-roll of 1 2,000 children out of a j population of 80,000 widely scattered through the Province, ' speaks well for the appreciation entertained hy ths people, of i the value and importance of education. 1 We are really sorry to be obliged to say one word in [ f ensure, or in any way to detract from the significance aud I grandeur of these figures. But duty compels us to protest , once more against a system which though most generously \ supported out of a genuine love of education, is calculated, we aie convinced, to lead ultimately to the injury of the I community. We see in it two things to be censured. One |is the absance of the denominational principle. If education j be not founded on, and animated by, clear and well defined | and catechetical religious teaching, it will lead to infidelity and fanaticism, undermine all the securities of social order, and endanger both life and property. We also notice that for nearly 6000 females, there are only 60 female tsachers, of

whom only 3o' are schoolmistresses. The principle of mixed schools, as to the sexes, does not obtain, we believe, in any civilised country in the world, except in Scotland and the Province of Otago. The experience and iunate sense of mankind is opposed to this principle; and in our opinion this principle is the second great objectionable feature of the Otago system.