§ MR. HARRISON (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether there is any rule of the Commissioners of National Education compelling District Inspectors, when examining for results, to mark the answers of the pupils secretly, so as to prevent either teacher or pupils from observing the marks recorded for each pupil in each specific subject; and whether, if there be no such rule, he is prepared to represent to the Commissioners of National Education the advisability of issuing general instructions to their Inspectors to have the marks recorded in the marking paper in presence of the teacher and pupils, as a guarantee of the good faith and impartiality of their marking?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Commissioners of National Education report that there is no such rule as that indicated in the question. The marks of the oral portion of the examination are recorded in the marking paper in the schoolroom as the examination proceeds, and, as a rule, in the presence of the teacher; those of the written part cannot be entered until the exercises of the pupils have been read. All the marks of the oral and written portions appear on the examination roll, which is sent to the school and retained there. The Commissioners do not deem further instructions to Inspectors on the point necessary.