§ MR. HAZLETON () Galway, N.I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether a petition for a modification of mathematical tests has been presented on behalf of a section of the teachers to the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland; whether he is aware that identical questions set to students for mathematical honours in Dublin University have appeared in the examination papers for junior grade intermediate pupils; and that to 90 per cent. of middle and senior grade intermediate pupils mathematical tests of a practically impossible character have been applied; and, if so, whether he proposes to take any, and if any, what, action in the matter.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Intermediate Education Board have from time to time received petitions with regard to the alleged difficulty of their examination papers, but more frequently as to subjects other than mathematics. The Board are not aware that identical questions have been set in Dublin University mathematical honour examinations and intermediate examinations. In the intermediate examinations of 1907, the percentage of senior grade students who passed in the different mathematical subjects ranged from seventy-seven to 580 ninety, and the percentage of middle grade students who passed in those subjects ranged from sixty-six to eighty-five. These figures completely dispose of the suggestion that to 90 per cent. of such pupils, the mathematical tests are practically impossible. The standard of examination is a matter within the discretion of the Board.