§ MR. MURNAGHAN (Tyrone, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been drawn to the new rule of the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland whereby the custom of awarding prizes and exhibitions in the preparatory 916 grade is to be discontinued after the present year, and having regard to the effect that this change will have on poor pupils since rewards are reserved for students of fifteen years of age, and with the view of preventing the loss of benefits of secondary education to the children of those in humble circumstances, whether he will ask the Commissioners to reconsider their decision in this matter.
§ MR. WYNDHAMIn discontinuing the custom of giving prizes and exhibitions directly to the students in the preparatory grade, the Board of Intermediate Education was strongly influenced by the weight of evidence given before the recent Commission on Intermediate Education as to the danger of educational over-pressure at an early age. The Board, however, have taken power in Rule No. 42 of the new rules to assign to managers of schools a sum of money, not exceeding £1 for each student who shall have passed in the preparatory grade, as a prize fund to the school, to be applied according to a scheme to be approved by the Board.