THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2000, 22 July 1880, Page 3

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.

(By Tbleobaph.] [FBOM OUK OWN COBBESPONDBNT.j WELLINGTON, July 21,

The report of the Minister for Education for the year ended 31et December last was laid on the table of the House to-day. It is very voluminous, and deals with every branch of the department. The number of schools in operation during the year was 817. The increase of the total average attendance over last year was 8,099, and the number of schools in operation has been increased by 69. The average attendance per school ia 71.9. The proportion of the larger schools is on the increase, and at the smaller ones the average hna been reduced slightly. The existence of ao many email schools under present circumstances is regarded as a very satisfactory feature of the administration of educational affairs, affording evidence of the desire of the Boards to extend instruction to sparsely peopled localities. The number of teachers on the ordinary staff in last December quarter was 1773, or an excess of 162 over the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Female teachers are on the increase, 103 having been appointed last year, as against 60 males. The average number of scholars per teacher over the whole of the schools was 33. An increase in the average per tescher is shown in almost every district. Throe cases of falsification of school registers by teachers wore discovered, and the teachers dismissed. The total number of scholars belonging to schools was 75,566, being an increase of 10,526 as compared with the previous year. The ordinary grant from the colonial revenue was only £1206 in excess of the previous year, notwithstanding the large increase of average daily attendance. This was caused principally by the Education reserves turning in £12,463 more than in the previous year. Nearly the whole of the vote £175,000 for school buildings has been paid away. The expenditure of the Boards on management was £11,109. A’ sum of £36,602 has been expended in the improvement of school buildings, and in the purchase ot sites £12,801. On January Ist, 1880, the aggregate of the Boards’ available balance and liabilities amounted to £56,167 and £56,789 respectively, and the estimate of cost of the necessary works, in addition to those under contract, amounted to £163,896, to meet which demand only £50,000 was available, leaving unsati-fied claims of £114,000. Auckland got £40,000 of the school building vote, Otago, £2B 500 ; North Cantorterbnry, £24,500; Wellington, £l6 000; Hawke’s Bay, £ll 500; Wanganui, £IO,OOO ; Westland, nearly £II,OOO. The rest was apportioned in smaller sums to the other districts. Regarding the inspection of schools, the report says that it is fair to conclude that the standards are not unreasonably high, and that some of the young people lately brought under instruction were formerly in a deplorable condition. The Minister for Education draws comparisons between the New Zealand, New South Wales, English and Scotch systems in refutation of the assertion that our standard programme was unduly severe. On this head, he concludes with the remark that the standard programme is not more ambitious than the corresponding programmes of the mother country and New South Wales. The standard regulations are to be reprinted with additional notes, to show that the standards are designed to foster objective and oral teaching in general, and to discountenance burdensome tasks of bookwork. Ninety-six scholarships were held last year under section 41 of the Act. The total amount expended on the same was £2834 14s. When the Training Colleges at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin are in full operation, they are expected to prove of great value. Only in one school has advantage been taken of the provisions referring to banks. The objection to the system is the extra labor involved. The aggregate amount of arrears of rent in connection with the reserves has increased from £3565 at the cloje of 1878 to £6060 at the end of 1879. In January last a schoolmaster of akill and experience was obtained for the inspection and organisation of Native schools. Experiments have been made in taking Native children from their villages and families and educating them, in expectation that those who learnt European habits and ideas would carry their civilising influences into the Native pahs; but the result is not satisfactory, and by no means proportionate to the expense end labor. Sufficient time has not yet been afforded for the settlement of the question, whether and to what extent special provisions should be made for carrying forward the education and training of Native scholars, who pass through the ordinary village school end are desirous to obtain instruction in the so- called higher branches of education. The subject is one requiring mature consideration. The number of deaf mutes in_ the Deaf and Dumb Institution in June, 1880, was ten, but it is expected that additional pupils will enter next month, when the half-yearly term begins.