STATE EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1533, 31 August 1912, Page 9

STATE EDUCATION.

annual report. STATISTICS' FOR LAST YEAR. • The principal statistics. in. connection with the education system of New Zealand for the year ending December 31, 1911, aro contained in. tho report of the IMucalion Department which was presented to Parliament yesterday afternooji. This volume contains n summary of eleven, pap?rs which will come down during tho session. The 'number of public schools open at the. end of 1911 was 21GC, an increase of seventy." Tho abrogate number of pupils on tho roll wns 161,648,-an increase 0t'532-1, the additions to the. roll l»ing ngain much more marked in the North Island, than in the South Island, but with ! the exception of Marlborough', and Grey' every showed at least 1 some ineifati. Tho average attendance for tho j year was 142,180, nn. increase of -1.8 per cent. Increases of percentage were' re? - corded in eveTy district except Hawlte's Bay, which lias remained stationary' for tlu> ■ past three years, and in \ho case of five districts-, the percentage reached oyer .90 per cent; of the roll number, OUgoi headed- the li«t with tho excellent percentage, of 91.7, with Marlborough necondl with !)l.(i, and■ Wellington' leading ",th'e North; Island with 98.1. Tho average' for the Dominion was 89.:) per cent. Tin's ayorage_is exceeded by that of Switzerland, 97.1,_ and Japan 92.0, but exceed*, thoso'.oi Kn<jland, Scotland, Ireland, tho. United States, and of all tile Australian States.; ; • • - Tho .number of teachers employed in - piibljc schools was 4551, an incrense of 143. tins ; number comprising 1072 males and! 2879 fciiiales. Two pupil teachers beingcounted-' as one adult, it is shown that 1 rn, c ' l atllllt is iw c ' lar B° Of 48.3 children, 111© total amount of salaries and allowances,was JE631.251, but this does not include tho amount estimated at JC2G.GOO saved in rents where houses are provid- ~ ed. The average overall schools of tho rates of. salary* including allowances for adult teachers in public primary schools, were-,£159 14s. 9d., and in.schools with ■iii average attendance-all over fifteen .£225 Is.' 7d. for men, and '.£l3l Is. Id. for womcp." ■ A certificates aro held by 119 teachers (increase of 3), B by 392 C by 939 (178), D by 1488 (decrease of 2), 13 by 441. (decrease of 39). •'At tho beginning ot'the year the aggrer ' gate net' bank balance of education Wards was ,£66,711, and at the end of tho year ..£41,528. Excluding the expenditure on buildings, the chief items of expenditure were:— '. , . .1910. 1911. ' ■ ■ . £>■ :. x Board's-administration ... 4 41,396 : 43,697 Incidental expenses of ■ •. "schools 37,394 ■ 42,831 Teachers', salaries 582,288 608,958. Training' Colleges. 27,46"- 28,992 Scholarships and' district' high'schools 32,881 32,620 Manual, and technical in- '. ■ Sti-uclipn . 56.049-G5.195 'The' net balances available on January ,1 j'or'" maintenance.-and rebuilding was ■£30,221'.'.': The' net balance of (hp schools' niaintcnaiico account was ,£86,214,- so that hoarjts have diverted «£5Q,000 to other pur- . ppses. ■ Boards have now been ndviiod I that pot-more than 7 per cent, must'be ; transferred from maintenance tq new' buildings. .... 'There were 101 Native schools ill actual operation at the end of the year, and in addition five mission schools, giving primary instruction to Maori children,' while ; -Maoris.' were in attendance at 551 publiu ; schools... . The roll of all Native schools • ■was'sl74. • " i ■Rccogiiised-classes'for manual inslnic- / Hon, wore held in 143G schools, the attendances being as follow Cookery, GllO; woodwork, 6742; agriculture, about 15,000: other branches, 118,026. There-are how over sixty well-equipped manual-training school's in operation.: Satisfactory progress continues to be made throughout tho Dominion- in the provision, improve incnt, and extension of facilities for technical instruction." T-here are now ifijty Well-equipped buildings available for.tins branch of ediirajjfm. The. mimVv of Individual students at day technical schools was 1341, an increase of 125. and at other classes 13,032, an incrcnso of 380. 'There are 32 secondary schools, the total number' bf pupils' being 5465, rtn increase of j 289. ■ The district high schools num-bered-59, with an average attendance in the secondary'department of 188!). TJ»» total average weekly roll■ of all schools giving secondary'education was'9SsS. . excluding those in privalo schools, of which tho Department has no information, the proportion of persons receiving some form of-secondarv education being 93.1 per • 10.000 of population. This, proportion is well nheiul of Kugland and Scotland, but behind the United Stales, which claims 122 per 10,000 of population. The regular staff ; of secondary schools-was 259, and there were -also 81 part-time teachers. The average snlaries of permanent teachers wns .£404 for principals (men , X 493, , women-'.£401), and .£2O! for \ assistants (ijricn «£243, women X 155). Tho aggregate expenditure on education ill Now Zealand during the financial year '1910-11 is shown in tho following tablo.'the exuenditure per head of population being also' shown:— ■ ■ Total. Per head. .£ ■ £ s. d. Primary ~,...,...'1 ~ 919,000 01* fi Seeondary 128,000 0 2 5 Continuation and tech- • .. n ; CB j 58,00 ft 0 11 University "and higher . ' tcilmicfll 0 i t Industrial' schools 43.000 0 010 Special schools 0 0 3 Sfp r«es. ,'./ . - -' JC1,232,600 .£1 3 5