E.—lβ

16

Summary of Results for the Whole District.

HAWKE'S BAY Sic, — Education Office, Napier, 10th January, 1895. I have the honour to submit to you my annual report for the year ending the 31st December, 1894. All the work of school inspection and examination was completed by the end of November, and December was spent in the examination of candidates for the Board's scholarships and of the pupils belonging to the upper division of the Gisborne District High School. Three new schools were opened during the year—namely, Weber, Tamumu, and Maharahara East—and the school at Port Awanui was closed. Fifty-eight schools are now in active operation. In most of the districts the supply of school places is fairly sufficient for the pupils attending, and, although settlement is taking place at a somewhat rapid rate in certain portions of the Waipawa, Hawke's Bay, and Cook Counties, I do not anticipate many new claims upon the Board for schools during the coming year In the larger towns, however, the full school supply is reached, and should there be any increase in the numbers attending further accommodation will be wanted. The school buildings generally are in good repair, and, with few exceptions, the offices, grounds, and fences give evidence of careful attention and supervision. The Committees on the whole take an intelligent interest in the management and control of the schools, and many improvements are carried out under their supervision in addition to those authorised by the Board. The shelter-sheds which have been lately provided in a number of districts are much appreciated by the children, and it will be well when every school in the district is supplied with this very necessary requirement. At the date of the examinations 6,735 pupils were returned as belonging to the schools. This represents an increase in the year's attendance of 352 pupils. Of the fifty-eight schools, there are five each with an average attendance of more than 300 pupils, eight others with an attendance varying from 100 to 300 pupils , whilst the remaining forty-five schools contain about the same number of children as are attending the combined schools of Napier, Gisborne, and Hastings. The average regularity of pupils at school is represented by 803 per cent, of the roll for the year. This is not a satisfactory result. Although the Act dealing with compulsory attendance is supposed to be enforced, there is evidently a great deal of laxity somewhere. I have watched with some interest the likely cause of irregular attendance among children, and I am convinced that no enforcement of attendance by law will be effective unless teachers interest themselves in the matter During the past two years 1 have been particularly struck with the improved attendance at the Napier Main School, and that improvement has taken place solely through the emulation which the headmaster and his staff have brought to bear on the work of the school. The absence of every pupil in each class is noted morning and afternoon, an inquiry is made as to the cause, and at the close of the week the percentages of attendance for each class are compared. The results are placed on a board prepared for the purpose, and the class which has made the best attendance is recognised as the " honours class " for the week. The attendance results at Napier show a great improvement compared with what was common a few years ago, and some of the upper classes reach as high as 98 per cent, of the roll-number As showing the wide differences existing in the regularity of children at the different schools, I have compared the attendance at five schools for the December quarter over a period of five years. These schools are Napier, Gisborne, Woodville, Taradale, and Wairoa. At Napier the regularity for the whole period is represented by 809 per cent, of the roll-number; at Gisborne the regularity is 91-3 per cent., at Woodville, 76 per cent., at Taradale, 68-5 per cent., and at Wairoa, 70-5 per cent. These results show a sad disregard to school attendance in the case of schools like Taradale and Wairoa, and even Woodville is not without blame. Napier is better, but it is hardly to the credit of parents in the principal town of the district to find itself beaten by Gisborne by more than 10 per cent, in the regularity of the school children, and this over a period of five years. But this question of regularity bears directly on the question of efficiency Suppose, for, example, that the teachers in each of the above-named schools are equally qualified, what results are to be expected from them on the assumption that the schools have been opened 400 times during the year? The Gisborne pupils will have made on the average 3652 attendances, Napier 323 - 6, Woodville 304, Taradale 274, and Wairoa 282. Everybody knows what these figures mean in the

Classes. Presented. Present. Passed. Average Age of those that passed. Yrs. mos. Above Standard VI. Standard VI. V „ IV „ HI. II. I. Preparatory 370 811 1,102 1,611 1,714 1,645 1,485 3,905 789 1,074 1,565 1,657 1,599 1,454 483 759 1,124 1,260 1,431 1,401 13 5 12 7 11 8 10 8 9 7 8 5 Totals 12,643 8,138 6,458 11 0* * Mi :an of average a| :e.