The grants made by us during the year ended 31st March, 10 School-houses. No. of Enlargement of Existing Vested School-houses. Loans for improvement of schools. 5. We also approved of applications to the Board of Works for loans, to the amount of £3,700, for building, enlarging or otherwise improving existing non-vested school-houses. Loans for We approved of loans in 40 cases to provide teachers Residences, residences, and in 6 cases to improve existing residences. The total amount of the loans approved was £10,385. Teachers' Since the year 1875, when the National School Teachers Residences (Ireland) Act came into force, 1,632 applications for loans, and 75 applications for grants, have been approved by us. In a large per-centage of cases, however, the Teachers are as yet unprovided with suitable residences. On the 31st December, 1905, according to returns received Residences. from the managers, teachers' residences were connected with 2,317 ordinary schools, and in 1,257 of these cases the residence was free of rent to the teacher, The estimated annual value of the free residences was £7,672 6s. 4d. Condition 6. The school-houses, which are vested in the Commissioners, of premises and kept in repair at the public expense, are generally satisfactory as regards adequacy of accommodation, suitableness of sites, sanitary arrangements and general fitting up for school purposes. A large percentage of the school-houses vested in trustees are, we regret to say, not maintained in a satisfactory condition. The responsibility for the repair and maintenance of these schools devolves on the trustees. A considerable number of the nonvested school-houses, especially those recently built, are suitable for their purpose, and are well maintained; but in a preponderating number of cases the houses are unsuitable, and are not kept in a condition, either as regards repair or cleanliness of the premises, reflecting credit on the localities in which they are According to the Returns furnished by the school managers Local aid the local expenditure on the schools was as follows: towards building and repairing £ 8 d. school The local aid to the salaries of the teaching staff amounted to £22,038 98. Day Schools in Operation: Attendance. 7. On the 31st of December, 1905, we had 8,659 schools in Schools in operation. Since the date of our last Report, 53 schools Operation. were brought into operation-viz., 37 vested in the Commissioners or in trustees, and 16 non-vested; while in 104 cases the grants were either suspended or withdrawn. This gives a net decrease of 51 schools in operation for the year ended 31st December, 1905. The accommodation afforded in the schools was sufficient for Accommo819,309 pupils, allowing nine square feet for each pupil. dation provided. schools. 8. There were 405 schools on our Roll, but not in operation on Inoperative the 31st December, 1905. 178 were not completely built, 189 were on the list of schools, the grants to which had been suspended for various causes, chiefly owing to failure to maintain a sufficient attendance of pupils, 21 Model school departments had been amalgamated with the adjoining departments, and 17 other schools were also inoperative for various reasons. 9. From the returns we have received, it appears that, in School 254 schools, fees amounting to £3,464 11s. 2d. were charged to fees. pupils over 3 and under 15 years of age, and that all the other schools were free to such pupils. In 178 schools, fees amounting to £455 38. 11d. were received from pupils over 15 years of age, and, in 245 schools, fees amounting to £2,873 128. 11d. were paid by the pupils for instruction outside school hours in extra branches. 10. (a.) The average number of pupils on the rolls of all the schools for the year was 742,457. Average (b.) The average daily attendance of pupils for the year was attendance. 500,489. daily Attendance (c.) The per-centage of the average daily attendance of pupils to the average number on the Rolls was 674. 11. (a.) The average number of pupils over three and under fifteen years of age, the limits of age defined in the Act of 1892, sec. 18, sub-sec. (5), in daily attendance was 488,723. The total average attendance of those who were fifteen and above was 11,766, or 2.35 per cent. of the total number in average daily attendance. (b.) The number of pupils over six and under fourteen years of for at least age who made at least 75 attendances in the six months ended 75 days 30th June, 1905, was 327,881; and the corresponding number for the six months ended 31st December, 1905, was 257,409. Attendance six years. 12. The following table shows for the last six yearsin each of (a) the number of national schools in operation, (b) the average number of pupils on the rolls, (c) the average daily attendance, and (d) the per-centage of the latter to the average number on the rolls: Total 13. The total number of pupils on the rolls of national schools number on on the 31st December, 1905, was 737,752. rolls. Religious lenominations. 14. The religious denominations of these pupils were 28 follows: 15. The pupils on the rolls of our schools, on the 31st December, 1905, are here classified according to (a) ages; (b) attendances; and (c) standards. (c.) CLASSIFICATION of the PUPILS according to Standards. Schools attended by both Roman Catholic and Protestant Children. 16. The following tables show, according to provinces, the number of Roman Catholic and Protestant pupils on the rolls of 2,762 schools, attended by both denominations, and the percentage of each denomination: (a.) ROMAN CATHOLIC and PROTESTANT PUPILS in Schools under ROMAN CATHOLIC Teachers exclusively. (b) ROMAN CATHOLIC and PROTESTANT PUPILS in Schools under PROTESTANT Teachers exclusively. |