E.—lβ

Sbss. 11.—1897. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: REPORTS OF INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS. [In continuation of E.-1b, 1896.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

AUCKLAND. Sic,— Education Office, Auckland, 4th March, 1897. I have the honour to submit the usual report for the year 1896. At the close of the year there were 348 schools in the Auckland District, being sixteen more than at the end of last year. Of these, 346 were examined. The remaining two were opened too late in the year for their examination to be undertaken in the ordinary course. Three hundred and sixteen schools were inspected in the course of the year, a number that includes forty-two half-time schools, in which only one of the pair of grouped schools was visited for inspection. Besides these, four were visited and found closed, four were opened after the inspection of the neighbouring schools had been completed, two were closed a short time after they had been opened, and three small schools were not inspected. The number of schools has increased by forty-two during the last three years, and their inspection and examination demand, on the part of the Inspectors, increasingly heavy and continuous work.

The following table shows in summary the chief examination results for the year:—

These figures show for the year an increase of 890 in the number of pupils presented, and a decrease of 295 in the number of pupils that passed in one or other of the standards. Last year there was the great advance of 1,464 in the number of pupils who passed in standards, and it is hardly matter for surprise that this large and sudden increase has not been fully maintained. In 1894 about 79 per cent, of the pupils examined in standards passed, in 1895 86 per cent, passed, and this year 82 per cent, have passed. The percentage of passes thus lies midway between the results for the last two years. In Standards I. and 11., head teachers have passed 96 and 90 per cent, respectively of the pupils examined. In Standards 111., IV., V., and VI. the percentages of passes are lower, and in most cases considerably lower, than they were last year. The frequency of failures in Standards IV. to VI. is still due to weakness in dictation, composition, and geography, and has this year been accentuated by a marked increase in the difficulty of the arithmetic tests for

* Mean of average age.

I—E. Iβ.

Classes. Presented. Examined in Standards. Passed. Average Age of those that passed. Yrs. mos. Above Standard VI. Standard VI. V. IV. III. II. I. 221 1,249 2,285 3,536 3,747 3,623 3,230 8,883 1,213 2,184 3,391 3,596 3,502 3,132 934 1,536 2,328 2,921 3,157 3,013 14 3 13 4 12 4 11 3 10 3 9 1 Preparatory Totals 26,774 17,018 13,889 11 9*