II. THE SYSTEM (AS IT WAS BEFORE THE NEW CODE, 1900). 577 585 586 588 589 590 591 592 594 595 595 596 597 598 599 600 600 A. Denominational Summary of Elementary Schools in 1864 and 1865 E. Synopsis of the principal changes in the Elementary School 604 F. Standards of Classification down to the New Code, 1900 I. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON EDUCATION IN JAMAICA, Board of Education and Education Department Scholarships Commissioners' Finding as to the State of Education in 656 657 662 662 663 663 664 664 II. EXTRACTS FROM THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BEFORE THE EDUCA- 665 665 Is it desirable that the system of education should in 672 Should Elementary Education be made more practical and 676 What have been the general effects on the population of 678 III. EDUCATION IN JAMAICA IN 1898 9. Educational Statistics 1897-9 Memorandum on Educational Matters addressed by Board 681 681 682 Monthly Average Attendance at Schools and Classification 684 Teachers 685 Manual Training, Kindergarten Class, and Teaching of 685 Training Colleges Scholarships and Secondary Education 686 687 Remarks of the Superintending Inspector on the Report 688 IV. SELECTION OF THE ARTICLES CONTAINED IN THE NEW CODE 689 THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN JAMAICA.* I. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 1. Elementary education cannot be said to have existed in Emancipa Jamaica prior to Emancipation in 1834. Slavery in this Island, tion in 1834. as in all other countries, debarred the people not only from education, but also from all the means calculated to advance their moral and intellectual improvement. It was popularly held and stoutly maintained in the public papers that knowledge would entirely unfit the negroes for the labour to which they were subjected. 2. The advantages of education were therefore only available Misuse of for the children of free people and certain privileged classes. For early bequests. these provision was made by bequests, at various periods, of money, lands, and slaves, in various parts of the Island, which were the original endowments of the existing schools known as Wolmer's, Manning's, Rusea's, Munro and Dickenson's, etc., so called after the names of the testators. Unfortunately, however, the funds were in many cases misappropriated, and in nearly all mismanaged. It would not be too much to say that the bulk of the money left for educational purposes was squandered or stolen. Had not the necessities of the government of the day led them to appropriate all the money belonging to these educational trusts that could be recovered, for which they undertook to pay, and have since paid a high rate of interest, there might have been no endowed school now in existence that was founded before Emancipation. Even up to 1870, and in some cases later still, the income derived from the Government was to a large extent wasted on giving in the endowed schools elementary education of a character little if at all higher than that given at a comparatively insignificant cost in the ordinary elementary schools, to the children of persons much better able to educate them than the parents of the vast majority of fee-paying children in the latter. Gardner, in his "History of Jamaica," says: "The influence of the endowed schools, with the single exception of Wolmer's" (which gave mainly elementary teaching) " was small in the extreme. Upwards of £3,000 per annum was spent to about as little purpose as it is possible to conceive." I shall return to the later history of these trusts further on. schools. 3. Two or three elementary day schools for children of free Particulars parents appear to have existed in the Island previous to 1820. of the first Between 1820 and 1834 seven schools were opened for children of free parents only, all by the Church of England; whilst forty were opened for the children of slaves, viz., nine by the Church of England, twelve by the Moravians, six by the Presbyterians, four by the Baptists, and nine by proprietors of *Part I. of this Report, with its Appendices, was prepared by the Hon. T. Capper in 1898. Part II. brings the account of the Educational System of Jamaica down to the publication of the New Code in May, 1900. It will be seen that the years 1898-1900 have been important in the educational history of the Island, 4226. 28 Lady Mico's estates. In 1835 and 1836 about £50,000 was given by the British Government for the erection of school houses, and in 1837 when Mr. Latrobe made at their request an exhaustive report (from which my figures are taken) upon the condition of the schools in the colony, especially those which had received building grants, there were 12,580 children on the books of the 183 elementary day schools then in operation, the average attendance being 9,789, or 777 per cent. (it is now about 60 per cent.), whilst there are 139 Sunday schools with 20,870 scholars on the books, and 95 evening schools with 5,304 scholars. Besides these schools there were 124 private schools, as to which little information was available. Of the 12,580 children in the day schools of the Island 2,531, or 20 per cent., were to be found in Kingston. The proportion is now about 5 per cent. Besides the 2,531 in the regular day schools in Kingston, it was estimated that there were 2,245 in private schools, 1,000" supposed to receive instruction from day-scholars and from itinerant teachers," and 150 in evening schools, making nearly 6,000 under instruction, of whom, however, a considerable number must have been adults. Of the 1,182 in Kingston Sunday schools a large proportion doubtless also attended day schools. A large number of the teachers in the Island had been brought from England; out of 153 schoolmasters and 104 schoolmistresses mentioned by Mr. Latrobe only 41 of the former and 61 of the latter were coloured. The following were the salaries paid by the Church Missionary Society, and it is probable that those given by other bodies were about the same: £42 to £84. £18 to £48. £120. married £144 and upwards. In 1837 and in each succeeding year up to 1842 the sum of £30,000 was given by the British Parliament to Jamaica for education. In 1842 this amount was reduced by £6,000, and £5,000 was taken off the grant every succeeding year till 1846, when it ceased. About 80 schools were aided by the grants for building, more than half being connected with the Established Church, and to these by far the largest proportion of succeeding grants was given."* Whilst these large grants were given by Parliament, the public enthusiasm on behalf of the freed slaves found expression also in large subscriptions for educational purposes to the various religious bodies, so that no lack of funds for the inauguration of school work was experienced. 4. The commencement of the operations of the Mico Charity in 1836 must not be passed over without special notice. More than 100 years before, Lady Mico had left £1,000 for the redemption of Christian captives in Algeria. In 1836 this application of the revenue derived from the trust, the capitalised value of which which was now over £100,000, having become *Gardner's History of Jamaica. impossible, an order in Chancery was obtained allowing it to be employed in the education of the emancipated negroes. Schools were at once established in Mauritius and in Jamaica and other West Indian Islands, and about 20 schoolmasters were sent out. to the latter. In the country parts of Jamaica several schools were established, besides the training institution and schools in Kingston. Gradually the plan of operations was changed, the elementary schools were given up, and the portion of the resources of the Charity devoted to Jamaica was concentrated on the training institution, without which, for many years after the cessation of the Imperial grant, no efficient elementary education of any kind would have been possible, and to which Jamaica owes a debt which it is impossible to over-estimate. 5. Whilst all these efforts were being made to provide elemen- Reaction. tary instruction for the people, the people themselves displayed the greatest enthusiasm in availing themselves of it. The numerous schools opened in all parts of the Island were rapidly filled to repletion with the most eager and docile of pupils. This enthusiasm was justly regarded as most encouraging and hopeful, and it is to be much regretted that in spite of the zeal displayed by the ministers of the various denominations and others, and of the importation of English masters and mistresses, the schools established were for the most part of a very inferior description. The teaching was almost entirely by rote, “sound without sense." This so-called education naturally did little to fit its recipients for the most ordinary duties of life, and still less for the advancement in social position which many had anticipated and hoped for as its result; reaction, as might have been expected, set in, gradually producing utter indifference towards education in the minds alike of the labouring population and of the more intelligent classes. Education, or what was called such, having failed to show them how to cultivate the soil better, to make more money, to improve their circumstances, or to advance themselves in life, was considered a failure. Fortunately, a few good schools here and there served to show that when properly managed in the hands of competent teachers, education was a real power, and capable of conferring benefits of the highest value upon its recipients by stimulating and arousing the intelligence without which success in any pursuit. is impossible. 1864. 6. The result of this reaction was that elementary education Mr. Savage's became almost entirely neglected. The Government gave in Report in all about £3,000 annually to the schools, but there was no regular system of inspection, and the great majority were practically worthless as educational agencies. That any schools at all remained in existence at this time was due to the efforts of the religious bodies, which from local resources and subscriptions received from England, managed to keep some hundreds of schools alive, some at least of which were fairly efficient. That these were the exception, however, was shown by the report of Mr. Savage, who found on his appointment in 1864 that of 289 schools examined by him and arranged in four classes, only 25 4226. 282 |