E.—2

Ag-e and Sex op Pupils. Table C shows the age and sex of the pupils on the rolls of the public school 8 of the Dominion at the end of 1914, and the percentage of the roll for each age.

Table C.—Age and Sex of Pupils, December, 1914.

Age. —lt will be seen that during the last five years there has been very little difference in the proportion of the various ages : 54 per cent, of the children are under ten and 46 per cent, are over that age. The following shows a comparison between the conditions of public elementary schools in England and the schools of the Dominion : — 'England. New Zealand. 5 and under 7 years of age .. .. .. .. 22-7 18-6 7 „ 12 „ .. .. .. .. 58-2 56-7 12 „ 15 „ .. .. .. .. 18-9 22-9 15 years of age and over .. .. .. .. .. 0-2 1-8 ' Excluding children from three to five years of age. Sex —Deductions from Table C show that for every 100 boys on the roll there are 92 girls. According to the census of 1911 there were 97 girls between the ages of five and fifteen for every 100 boys. Thus, although 49-2 per cent, of the child population were girls, only 47-9 per cent, of the children in attendance at the public schools were of that sex. The fact that more girls than boys leceive their education at private schools accounts to some extent for this difference. Girls '* apparently leave the primary school at an earlier age than boys also, for of children over thirteen years of age, for every 100 boys there were only 88 girls. In spite of this it may be remarked that for every 100 boys in Standard VI there were 91 girls, showing that girls pass through their standards in a shorter average time than do boys. Classification and Examination. Table Dl shows the number of children in each education district arranged according to class. The following table is a summary for the Dominion :—

Table D.—Classification of Pupils at Public Schools, December, 1914.

8

Ages. 1914. Boys. Girls. Percentages for Pive Years. Total. 1910. 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. 5 and under 6 years .. 6 7 „ 7 „ 8 „ .. 8 „ 9 „ .. 9 „ 10 „ 10 „ 11 „ 11 . 12 „ 12 „ 13 „ 13 , 14 „ 14 „ 15 „ 7,356 6,858 10,099 9.254 10,544 9,906 10,908 9,894 10,528 9,906 10,559 9,696 9,745 9,041 9,213 8,500 7,983 7,315 4,342 3,562 14,214 19,353 20,450 20,802 20,434 20,255 18,786 17,713 15,298 7,904 8-4 11-2 11-5 11-4 11-3 10-9 10-2 10-0 8-5 4-5 8-4 11-2 11-5 11-4 11-3 10-9 10-2 10-0 8-5 4-5 8-4 7-9 8-0 8-0 11-1 10-9 10-6 10-9 120 11-9 11-8 11-5 11-5 1.1-9 11-8 11-7 11-1 11-2 11-7 11-4 109 108 10-9 11-3 10-5 10-7 10-5 10-5 9-6 10-2 10-2 9-9 8-4 8-2 8-4 8-6 4-5 4-3 4-3 4-4 8-4 11-1 120 11-5 111 10 9 10-5 9-6 8-4 4-5 7-9 10-9 11-9 11-9 11-2 108 10-7 10-2 8-2 4-3 8-0 10-6 11-8 11-8 11-7 10-9 10-5 10-2 8-4 4-3 15 and over 91,277 83,932 1,808 1,492 91,277 1,808 83,932 1,492 175,209 3,300 97-9 2-1 98-0 2-0 98-0 2-0 98-2 1-8 98-2 1-8-Totals .. 93,085 85,424 93,085 85,424 178,509 10000 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00

(Including lUCONDARY IJOPAM'MENTS OF IISTKICT iOBOOLS. Classes. Boys. Girls. Total. 'ercentagi is for Five Years. I 1912. 1913. 36-70 36-22 12-40 12-39 12-25 12-32 11-70 11-90 10-73 10-84 8-85 8-97 5-97 : 0-02 1-40 I 1-34 Glass P .. . SI.. . S2 .. „ S3.. , S4 .. „ S5 .. . 86 .. . 87 .. 34,195 11,203 11,411 11,164 9,906 8,390 5,643 1,173 93,085 30,660 10,418 10,477 10,258 9,380 7,817 5,160 1,254 64,855 21,621 21,888 21,422 19,286 16,207 10,803 2,427 1910. 37-15 12-17 11-94 11-44 10-39 9-10 6-16 1-65 1911. 37-30 12-34 11-90 11-59 10-48 8-72 6-21 1-46 1914. 36-33 12-11 12-26 12-01 10-80 9-08 6-05 1-36 Totals.. 85,424 178,509 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00