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 SCHOOLS

577

SCHOOLS

Education for the purpose of placating the various Protestant sects had the effect at last of uniting CathoUcs in opposition to the system. Apparently it was not enough that in a Board of seven commis- sioners only two were Catholics; one rule after another was made of such a character as to leave no doubt of the very serious danger that these new government schools would prove to be simply another proselytiz- ing agency, as was, indeed, the avowed policy of the Protestant archbishop, Whately. As the outcome of prolonged and bitter Catholic opposition the schools were at length made tolerable, though they retain their fundamental undenominationalism to the present day. Outline of System. — The National Education sys- tem is now governed by a body of twenty commis- sioners appointed by the Crown, of whom ten, in- cluding the resident commissioner, are Catholics. All the other higher offices, even inspectorships, are di- vided equally between Catholics and Protestants, offices being in some instances duplicated in order to preserve the balance. The form of local control of the schools that has been adopted gives to CathoUcs such measure of security as they possess. The imme- diate management is committed to individuals ap- pointed by the Board, and in the large majority of cases the.se are the local clergy, amongst Catholics usu- ally the parish priests. Of a total of 8401 National Schools, 5819 are under Catholic management, and of these, 5050 are under clerical and 1G9 under lay managers. These managers have the sole right of ap- pointing and dismissing the teachers, but an arrange- ment made for Catholic schools, and sanctioned by the Synod of Maynooth, provides that in the exercise of this right the approval of the bishop shall be sought. This arrangement has been accepted by the teachers as an ample protection against the danger of arbitrary dismissal. The managers have, moreover, general au- thority over the schools and the teachers, but the commissioners themselves, through their inspectors, control the standard and the efficiency of the teach- ing, and enforce the regulations of their code. The undenominationalism of the system makes itself felt chiefly in two ways: first, in the prohibition of re- ligious emblems even in purely Catholic schools, and, secondly, in the refusal of the commissioners to sanc- tion the use even in Catholic schools of readers or other books containing any matter which might be considered open to objection if the schools had mixed attendance of Catholics and Protestants.

Provision of Schools. — School buildings may be vested in the commissioners, or in trustees, or they may be held by the managers as owners. If a school is vested in the commissioners, a course considered ob- jectionable by Cathohcs, that body provide the entire cost of erection, equipment, and maintenance. If the school is vested in trustees, the commissioners make a grant of two-thirds of the cost of building and equip- ment, leaving the remaining third, and the entire cost of subsequent maintenance, to be met by local con- tributions, for the raising of which the manager is responsible. If the unrestricted ownership of the school is retained by the manager, no contribution is made, but loans may be obtained in certain circum- stances.

Catholic Schools. — The schools of the Irish Christian Brothers have refused to enter the National system, but it has been accepted by those of other brother- hoods, and by convent schools generally. The num- ber of convent and monastery National schools is 396, and the average number of children on the rolls, 111,508. Of the 8401 National schools 4391 are ex- clusively Catholic as regards teachers and pupils, 1542 are similarly Protestant, and the attendance is mixed in 24G1 schools, in which the Catholic pupils are 69-7 per cent of the whole. The number of pupils in exclusively Catholic schools is 373,613, and the Catholics in the schools in which the attendance is XIII.— 37

mixed, number 131,657. There are, therefore, alto- gether 505,270 Catholic pupils in the National schools out of a total roll of 704,528.

Finance. — The whole scheme of National educa- tion, with the exceptions stated above in regard to building, equipment and maintenance, is financed by the Government, chiefly by an annual parhamentary vote, which in 1909-10 amounted to £1,621,921. The ascertained expenditure from local sources in 1909 was £141,096.

Training of Teachers. — The supply of trained teachers is maintained by seven training colleges, of which one, for men and women, directly managed by the commissioners, is forbidden to Catholics, an- other, also for men and women, is Episcopahan Prot- estant, and two for men and three for women are Catholic. The Catholic training colleges are under the immediate management of the bishops of the dio- ceses in which they are situated, two under the Arch- bishop of Dublin, and one each under the Bishops of Down and Connor, Limerick, and Waterford. The students in these colleges, all of which are residential, are known as King's scholars, and the colleges are supported by capitation maintenance grants paid by the commissioners.

Technical Instruction. — Technical instruction is car- ried on by local committees under the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. The Department was established by Act of Parha- ment in 1899, and has, in addition to the sums voted for special institutions such as the Royal College of Science, an annual income of £197,000, of which £62,000 must be devoted to technical instruction, £10,000 to the development of fisheries, and the bal- ance to agricultural instruction and development. The technical schools established under this system are undenominational, but as they are almost exclu- sively evening schools and are confined to technical subjects of instruction, or preparatory work connected therewith, they are freely attended by Catholics.

Second.\ry Schools and Colleges. — Speaking generally, all schools of secondary standard, and col- leges under university rank in Ireland, are purely denominational. In the department of secondary education Catholics received no assistance from the State until 1878, when an Act of Parliament estab- lished the Commissioners of Intermediate Education to encourage and promote secondary education by distributing grants to schools of all denominations on the basis of an annual general examination in the subjects of secular instruction, and giving exliibitions and prizes to the most successful candidates. A fur- ther Act of Parliament, in 1900, widened the powers of the commissioners and enabled them to add inspec- tion to the examination, which, however, must be re- tained. The system of inspection established under this Act has not yet got beyond the tentative stage, and cannot be really effective as long as the annual examination continues to be the basis of the distribu- tion of grants.

Outline of System. — The commissioners are twelve in number, six Catholics and six Protestants, and as their powers are strictly limited to subjects of secular education, the denominationalism of the schools is in no way impaired. The diocesan colleges, with few ex- ceptions, accept the system and compete for their share of the grants. The great colleges and the smaller schools of the religious orders are all within the system, as are also nearly all the convent second- ary schools. The Christian Brothers, though refus- ing to enter the National -system of primary schools, have freely entered the Intermediate system, and have added secondary departments to their schools, in which they accept the programme of the Interme- diate Board, and submit to the examinations and in- spection. The official statistics published by the Board take no account of the religious denomination