The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1903. FREE SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11483, 16 January 1903, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1903. FREE SECONDARY EDUCATION.

The <__sca__ion whicu tooik phw» ai the Board of Governors of College on Satorday «sg&rding the proposals of the Edncaiion Department to give additional free eeooDdaxy education to soholang of the primary schools, showed how excessively crude was the scheme submitted. It is so erode, so i___»'tM_aoto-y in many of ita details, and in its probable effects, that one would assume it to have been drawn up by a novice absolutely ignorant of what .secondary education really means. Briefly., put, the Goven_ment propose fiat free secondary education shall be given to scholars of the primary aohools who pass the sixth standard before fourteen years of age. We fully agree •with the principle of giving free secondary education to children in the primary schools who are likely to profit by it. The test proposed by t_he Government is no test at all from this point of view. Th* present system cf awarding scholarships after competitive examiinabion, although not without some drawDacks, is certainly fex than the scheme proposed. One effect of the latter, it was pointed out by both the Principal of the Girls' High School and the Headmaster of the Boys' High School, will be to induce parents who can well afford to pay the fees, and would otherwise have sent their children to the secondiary schools as full paying pupils, to send them to primary schools, and keep them fiber* till they have passed the sixth standai_, in order to qualify for a free place. This can hardly have been the result desired by Parliament. In this way the income of both -dhooLs will be unnecessarily diminished, and their finances will be further embarrassed, by the fact that the free pupils insisted on by the Government will necessitate additional class-rooms and additional teaching power—an expense which the £6 per head allowed by the Government on a certain proportion of the pupils wijl le wholly inadequate to meet. As regards the scholarships which the Board have to provide without amy Government capitatdon in ret_rn for their endowmente, it -will be seen that the Governors in amy case intended giving 51 free places this year, and the number reouired under iiu> Government scheme is only 66. This speaks well, we think, for the liberality with which the Board, without Government interveniion, has endeavoured to meet the wants of the most d__er~in.g scholars. It da a pity the Government department was not equal to the task of devising c. scheme which would provide additional facilities for deserving boys and girls to pass on to the secondary schools, without running the risk of destroying the efficiency of the secondary school system itself. It remains to be seen whether the Committee to whom the Boaid of Governors have referred the matter will be able to devise some means of achieving the object aimed at, and at the same time avoiding some of the disadvantages of the Government scheme.