ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOLS OF NEW BRUNSWICK, 1888. PART I-GENERAL REPORT. To His Honor the Honorable Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, C. B., K. C. M. G., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of New Brunswick: MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR, I herewith submit, as required by law, my Report on the operations of the Public Schools for the year 1888: The comparative statement and other details embodied in the Report indicate a satisfactory degree of activity and progress in the several aspects of the service. A large number of new school-houses have been built, others substantially repaired, and many supplied with suitable furniture and needed appliances, while many school grounds and premises have been made places of neatness, beauty, and attractiveness. The inner work of the schools, as attested by the Inspectors, has been carried on with undiminished efficiency. The increase in the enrolment of pupils for the year was larger than usual, but there was a slight falling off in the daily average attendance, owing to causes which are explained in other parts of the Report. Summary of Statistics for the Year Ending June 30th, 1888. The Statistical Tables of Part II embrace two Terms, viz.: The Term ended December 31st, 1887, and the Term ended June 30th, 1888. Tables IX and X show the disbursements of Provincial Grants and the apportionment of the County Fund to Trustees for the same period. Part III includes the reports of the Principal of the Normal School for the session ended June, 1888, of Inspectors, of Boards of Trustees of cities and incorporated towns. of the President of the University, and of the Superintendents of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Fredericton, and of the Blind Asylum of Halifax, for the year ended December 31st, 1888. TABLE I.-NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, PUPILS, &C. 480 Number of pupils in attendance during the year...69,063 Increase... Other details will be found in the Table. TABLE II.-PROPORTION OF POPULATION AT SCHOOL, AGE AND SEX OF PUPILS, PERCENTAGE OF DAILY AND FULL-TERM ATTENDANCE. An analysis of the foregoing tables, which are compiled from the sworn returns of teachers and trustees, shows an increase of 480 pupils in the enrolment for the year, making the total enrolment 69,063, an increase of 38, schools, 45 teachers and 1,560 pupils for the second term of 1887 upon the corresponding term of 1886, and an increase of 10 schools with a decrease of 11 teachers and of 160 pupils for the first term of 1888 as compared with the corresponding term of the preceding year. The decrease in the number of teachers, notwithstanding the increase of schools, is a satisfactory decrease. It shows that fewer substitute teachers were required-teachers employed in the absence of the regular teacher. The percentage of enrolled pupils daily present during the time the schools were in session is shown to be 60 for the second term of 1887 and 54.43 for the first tern of 1888, making a decrease on the corresponding terms of the previous year of .68 and of 2.38 respectively, and for full term time, i. e. the time or number of teaching days prescribed for all the schools, this percentage is shown to be 56.16 and 49.77, making a decrease in the former case of .10 and in the other of 2.68. The decrease in the percentage of attendance for the first term of 1888 is largely due to the severe snow-storms which prevailed during the early part of the year which blocked the roads in many country districts for weeks and also to the unusual prevalence of epidemics in several of the towns as may be seen referred to in one or two of the reports in Appendix C. The following tables exhibit the percentages of daily attendance from 1874: |