270 (including 202 State-aided schools); that the number of candidates, which was 972 in 1888, was last year 13,173; and that the total number of papers taken, which was 4,300 in 1888, was last year 39,966. For the present year the numbers have again largely increased; but we are unable as yet to give exact statistics, as the examination does not take place until June. The total number of schools from which candidates will be presented for the present year is 334, and of these 70 are higher class schools, and 264 higher departments of State-aided schools. A large number of university and professional authorities have announced their readiness to accept the certificate in lieu of such preliminary examinations as are held under their directions.* For the general results of the inspection of higher class schools and of the leaving certificate examination we have to refer to the report of the Director, which will be published in the Appendix. Merit Certificate. ficate. In 1891 we asked the special attention of school boards and Merit certiother educational authorities to the proposal for a merit certificate, which appeared to us to be of great practical importance in view of complaints which reached us with regard to the defective way in which pupils acquire the ordinary elementary subjects. Whether as a preparation for the ordinary business of life, or as an introduction to higher or technical education, thoroughness in elementary subjects is the first requirement of elementary schools. It is the object of the merit certificate, to secure this by enlisting the self-interest of parents and the co-operation of employers of labour. It was asserted that the number of pupils who might be induced to remain longer at school by means of the merit certificate was small. But the proposal has now been in operation for four years, and we have already issued 8,603 of these certificates, from which it would appear that the opportunity is highly valued. We continue to receive assurances that the importance of such pupils in a school is not measured by their numbers only, and that the * Amongst these we may name : The Lords of Council and Session (for the purposes of the Law Agents Act); The University of Oxford; The University of Cambridge; The Joint Board of the Scottish Universities for the Preliminary Examination; The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh : The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain; The Society of Solicitors before the Supreme Courts; The Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow ; benefit which accrues from their obtaining an adequate education extends far beyond the individual pupil immediately concerned. Technical Education. We have previously referred to the efforts which we made to draw the attention of school boards to the provisions of the Technical Schools (Scotland) Act of 1887, and the new field of operations which it threw open. School boards still appear to hesitate about enlarging their sphere of action by making use of the provisions of this Act. But we are not disposed to infer from this that the subject is disregarded, and, on the contrary, we believe that it is attracting considerable attention, and that discussion is now doing much to define the proper aims and methods of such instruction. It is probable also that school boards are anxious to consider this, not so much as a separate question, but rather as one belonging to the larger sphere of higher education generally, and that they desire to weigh carefully the action which it may be expedient for them to take, on grounds of public interest, in this larger question, before embarking upon any further development of technical education as one branch thereof. The Evening Continuation School Code, however, which has had the effect of increasing the number of, and attendance at, evening 'schools, has given a very strong impetus to instruction of this sort. Under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, power is given to town and county councils to contribute to the support of technical instruction, and under the Education and Local Taxation Account (Scotland) Act, section 2, subsection 5, further powers of the same nature are conferred upon these bodies. We have already referred (on page 22) to the method proposed in the Minute of 27th March 1896, by which these sums may be dealt with in connexion with schemes for secondary education generally. The Technical Instruction Amendment (Scotland) Act, 1892, removed certain impediments which were found to hinder the exercise of these powers. (Signed) HENRY CRAIK, Secretary, the 4th day of May 1896. DEVONSHIRE. BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. Scotch Education Department, Tables referred to in Report. No. 1. TABLE A. SHOWING the ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER of CHILDREN of each year of school age, and the number and per-centage of these whose names are on school registers. Roman Catholic Church TABLE No. 2. SHOWING NUMBER of STUDENTS in TRAINING COLLEGES, arranged under DENOMINATIONS. *^[*] Female. Total. TABLE No. 3. SHOWING the SOURCES from which the CANDIDATES for TRAINING, in each of the above three Years, were mainly drawn, at the previous QUEEN'S SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATIONS. O 89399. * These figures are for the two examinations held in July and December 1894. 46 19 46 |