§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether teachers of national schools in Ireland, seeking promotion from the third to the second class, are required to present at the annual results examinations a certain proportion of their pupils in the higher classes; whether by this rule several teachers are debarred from all hope of promotion, in consequence of the districts in which their schools are situate being so thinly populated, and so poor, the people in many instances being unable to provide clothes for their children, that it is impossible for the teacher to secure the required minimum attendance of 100 days of the requisite number of pupils to qualify for presentation at the results examinations, while in such schools the number of passes in many cases on the whole average 87 per cent; and, whether, under the circumstances, he is prepared to recommend a modification of this rule in certain cases where the diligence and efficiency of the teachers are undisputed?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)The Commissioners of National Education inform me that every national school teacher seeking improved status and remuneration is expected by the Commissioners to have such a fair proportion of pupils in the higher classes as the circumstances of his school—whether in a thinly-populated district or not—warrant, and to have both junior and senior pupils carefully instructed. While there is no absolute rule fixing any precise number of pupils for the higher classes, the existence of such classes in other than infant schools is always an important element in determining the admission of teachers to examination with a view to promotion.