E.—1

17. LENGTH OF POST - PRIMARY COURSE. The returns compiled in 1936 by teachers show also the duration of the postprimary course taken by pupils who have now left school. Summarized, the position is as follows : —

Table Q 1.

No returns have been obtained from post-primary schools giving the actual length of school life of each individual pupil, but from the information summarized in the above table it is possible to give an approximation of the average length of the school life of those pupils who left school in 1936. For this purpose a pupil leaving in his first year is taken to have a school life of one year and so on till those leaving in a fourth year or later are taken as four years only. Some pupils stay for five or six years, but this fact is compensated for when it is considered that many pupils leaving in their first and second year cannot be said to have a school life of one and two years respectively. The following figures are given, therefore, with the reservation that they are not compiled from exact information, but they are nevertheless not far from being correct: — Average Length of School Life. Y. M. Secondary schools . . . . .. .. , . ..29 Combined schools .. .. . . .. . . ..28 Technical high and day schools .. . . . . ..21 Secondary departments o£ district high schools . . ..23 All post-primary schools .. .. .. . . ..26 In the case of pupils who enter upon post-primary courses and leave during the same year, information has been obtained showing in months the duration of the school life of such pupils. The information received is tabulated in the table below. It will be noted that the totals are slightly below those shown as leaving in the first year in Table Q 1 preceding. This difference is due to the fact that Table Q 2 concerns those pupils who commenced and finished their courses in the same year, while Table Q 1 includes in " leaving in first year " pupils who, though in the first year of their course when they left, actually commenced that course in a previous calendar year or at a private secondary school.

31

Secondary Combined Technical High District High ah q u 1 Schools. Schools. vty£chooh Schools A11 Schools * Number ' Cent, j Number " Cent. | Number " j Cent. Numbor ' Cent. ! Number " | tant. Leaving in first year .. 852 14 139 16 1,512 33 641 32 3,144 23 Leaving in second year 1,636 28 273 30 1,600 34- 624 31 4,133 31 Leaving in third year .. 1,419 24 265 29 1,025 22 369 18 3,078 23 Leaving in fourth year 2,005 34 229 25 518 11 392 19 3,144 23 and later — — Totals, 1936 .. 5,912 100 906 100 4,655 100 2,026 100 13,499 100 Totals, 1935 .. 4,734 .. 697 .. 4,128 .. 2,168 .. 11,727 Difference .. +1,178 .. +209 .. +527 .. —142 .. +1,772