I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £17,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1959, for Secondary Education, including the Teachers' Salaries Grant, Capitation Grant, Incremental Salary to Secondary Teachers and grant to the Secondary Teachers' Pension Fund.
Of the total sum, £6,500 needs to be provided by way of capitation grant in respect of recognised pupils in secondary schools. May I explain at the outset that recognised pupils are pupils who have done an appropriate entrance examination in order to indicate that they have the secondary school education and that they then follow the required minimum course?
Grants are payable in respect of recognised pupils in secondary schools in the preceding school-year. At the time of preparation of the Estimate it is not known how many of the pupils on the rolls will fulfil the conditions for recognition and a percentage based on experience in previous years is taken.
In framing the Estimate for the financial year 1958-59, it was assumed, in the light of previous experience, that 97 per cent. of the pupils on the rolls in the school-year 1957-58 would fulfil the conditions for recognition, the percentages for the three previous years being 96, 95 and 94. It happens, however, that 98 per cent. of the pupils on the rolls in the school-year 1957-58 are recognised pupils. Accordingly grants are payable in the financial year 1958-59 on a greater number of pupils than was provided for.
The rates of capitation grant are as set out in the Book of Estimates for 1958-59.
On sub-head B (1)—Incremental Salary Grant—the additional amount required is £12,500. Again, if I may explain, I am sure that the House is aware that the school pays the basic salary of the secondary teacher and the Department of Education pays the incremental salary at the end of the first year of satisfactory service. The quota of teachers in a secondary school to whom incremental salary may be paid is related to the number of recognised pupils in the preceding school-year. The increase in the percentage of recognised pupils in the school-year 1957-58 made possible the employment of an increased number of teachers in receipt of incremental salary as from the beginning of the school-year 1958-59, the greater part of which falls within the financial year 1958-59.
I am sure at this juncture the House —without wishing to widen the scope of the debate which may follow— would be interested in the comparative figures of the development of secondary education over the past few years.
The following comparative figures give a brief indication of the progress in the development of secondary education in the last few years. The number of secondary schools has increased from 480 in 1956-7 to 489 in 1957-8 and 494 in the present school-year 1958-9. The number of pupils on the rolls of these schools was 62,444 in 1956-7, in 1957-8 it was 66,221, and in the present school-year 1958-9 it is 69,568. The number of teachers in receipt of incremental salary in 1956-7 and 1957-8 was 2,701 and 2,814 respectively. In the present school-year 1958-9 it is 2,948. In 1956-7 the number of secondary teachers given registration in accordance with the Regulations for the Register of the Intermediate School Teachers was 188. This number increased to 245 in 1957-8, while in the present school-year it may exceed 270.
