II. PRESENT SYSTEM-Cont.: A. PRIMARY EDUCATION-Cont.: Appointment and Dismissal of Teachers. Annual Competitive Exhibition of School Work. School Hours. Religious Instruction. B. SECONDARY EDUCATION :- St. John Berchman's College. Other Schools in Belize. Select Schools at Corosal and Stann Creek. C. TECHNICAL EDUCATION. III. CONCLUSION. APPENDICES : A. The Education Ordinance, 1892. B. Education Rules, 1894, revised and reprinted, 1902. C. 1. Statistics showing Educational Progress from the year 1850. II. Percentage of Children attending School to population, etc., III. Comparative Statement of number of aided Schools, of THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN BRITISH HONDURAS.* I. EARLY HISTORY. The history of education in the colony of British Honduras dates from the year 1816, about thirty-two years after the date of the formal cession of the Colony, then called the Settlement, to Great Britain by the Crown of Spain. Establish In the year 1816 the Honduras Free School was established. Honduras This school was supported by voluntary subscription among the Free School, inhabitants of the settlement, aided by an allowance from the Public ment of, Funds. It was managed by a Committee consisting of His Majesty's 1816. Superintendent and the seven Magistrates for the time beingwho were styled the Governors, the Churchwardens, and all subscribers of £10 annually. In character it was denominational, in connection with the Church of England, then the established church of the settlement. Children were admitted by a ticket from any of the governors. The school was purely elementary-reading, writing and arithmetic being the subjects taught. The greater share of the expenses seems to have been borne by the Government, who also made special provision for the tuition of the children of the soldiers stationed in the Colony and of pensioners' children. It is noteworthy that from the earliest date to the present time education, both elementary and secondary, has always been associated with the several Churches of the Colony. From the year 1816 till 1850 educational efforts were limited to the settled population located at the mouth of the Belize River, notwithstanding that the boundaries of the Colony extended from the Rio Hondo on the north to the Sarstoon River on the south, a distance of 250 miles by coastline. For twelve years after its establishment the Honduras Free School First Private seems to have been the only school in the settlement; but in the Schools. official records for the year 1828 mention is made of mission schools in connection with the Wesleyan and Baptist Churches-these were apparently of a purely religious character-and two private schools. These schools received no Government aid. The number of pupils on roll in the Honduras Free School for the 1828. year 1828 is stated to have been 116, and the population numbered 4,160. It is probable, however, that the school was only attended by the children of free persons, who were numbered at 1,760. In the year 1836 the number of private schools had increased to 1836. five; of what character they were is not stated, but it is to be presumed that they were elementary. At the beginning of the year 1850, in the month of February, an Education "Act to provide for additional schools for the benefit of every Act of 1850. * Reports on Elementary Education in British Honduras can be seen at the Board of Education Library, St. Stephen's House. Cannon Row, Whitehall, London. S.W. Government Condition of Education, 1850-1855. Denomination of Christians in the settlement of British Honduras, * The Honduras Free Schools (Boys' and Girls') were now wholly Education. supported from the public funds, and might rightly be considered as Government institutions, though in connection with the Church of England; the teachers were paid fixed salaries at the rates of £200 for the Headmaster and £100 for his Assistant, and £90 for the Headmistress and £45 for her Assistant. Other schools were paid grants at the rate of twelve shillings per annum for each pupil in average daily attendance, and were supplied with books, maps and other school material from the Education Vote; an allowance for the rent of school buildings, not to exceed £25 per annum, was also made. The sum of £1,000 ($5,000) per annum was placed at the disposal of the Board to be devoted exclusively to educational purposes. In Belize there were now five Denominational Public Schools, with an attendance of 516 pupils; two of these were attached to the Wesleyan and one to the Baptist Church; the Baptists, however, refused to accept aid for their school from the Education Vote, and continued in this position of independence till the year 1868. The reasons given, in 1867, by Mr. Alexander Henderson, Baptist Minister, were that they (the Baptists) found the mode of Government support out of their reach, the state of the law requiring schools to stand in connection with the various religious sects; and that they greatly preferred that Government should sustain secular education only, leaving religion to Sunday Schools. With the addition of the attendance at three private schools noted in the records for 1850, the total number of children under tuition in Belize was about 600. The population of the town is stated to have been 4,000. Two schools were also established outside of the Belize district, one in the north of the Colony, at Corosal, in connection with the Roman Catholic Church, and one to the south of Belize, at the town of Mullins River, in connection with the Wesleyan body. Their total attendance only numbered sixty-three. The population of the Colony now numbered from 10,000 to 12,000, but the majority would in all probability be logwood and mahogany cutters and their families, living far from centres convenient for the establishing of schools. Then, as now, the fact that the occupation of wood-cutting necessitates constant migration from one locality to another on the part of those engaged in it hampered to a considerable extent the spread of education in the Colony. 1853. The following remarks by the Chairman of the Board of Education in 1853 are interesting: * See footnote on p. 171 below. The education afforded at these schools (Public) is merely Reading, confined to the Bible, History, Natural Writing, which is accomplished fairly. Arithmetic few attain beyond the first four rules. The age at which a child may be admitted is six years, and the The attendance is very irregular, dependent on the caprice of the children which the apathy of parents refuses to combat. Consequently the progress is slow and proficiency is never attained. The teachers are none of them regularly trained-their duties are inefficiently performed-there is no emulation, but very great want of energy and of interest in their occupation, and the community generally is very indifferent to the cause of education The remarks as to irregularity of attendance of pupils and its causes, and to the want of training of teachers are still applicable. The system of teaching up to this date, and for some years after, was "Monitorial." Act in 1855. In the year 1855 the public schools in Belize had increased to Amendment seven with an attendance of 700, and the settled population of the of Education town was estimated at 4,500. The school expenditure was £1,004 ($5,020). In this year the Education Act was amended. The number of members of the Board was increased to seven, and the Superintendent of the Colony (officer administering the Government) and the members of the Executive Council were constituted Governors and Visitors of the schools. These Governors also acted as arbitrators in the case of any disagreement between the Board and the ministers of religion who were the managers of the schools. Provision was made for the establishment of an Infant Free School and for the appointment of trained teachers from Great Britain for the Infant School and for the Boys' and Girls' Free Schools. Provision was also made for the introduction of mechanical and industrial teaching into the schools. School fees began to be charged. The salaries of the teachers of the Honduras Free Schools were fixed at £250 per annum for the head teacher of the Boys' School and £120 for each of the Headmistresses of the Girls' and Infants' Schools. The Headmaster of the Boys' Free School was Inspector of the other Church of England Schools, and assisted in the annual examination of the schools of other denominations. The introduction of trained teachers from Great Britain does 1863. not appear to have been attended with success as far as the advancement of education was concerned; for in the year 1863 those sections of previous Acts requiring the appointment of such trained |