§ Mr. PIRIEasked the Secretary for Scotland if his attention has been drawn to the hardship imposed on teachers called on to attend vacation classes to equip themselves for the new requirements of the Scotch Education Act of 1908, in so far that the travelling and maintenance allowances foreshadowed in Section 17 of this Act are being seriously curtailed; and can he give any promise that early steps will be taken to meet all claims?
The SECRETARY for SCOTLAND (Mr. McKinnon Wood)The amount spent on such travelling and maintenance allowances is in the discretion of the secondary education committees, who may be expected, in framing their estimates, to have regard to the relative importance of the various calls that may be made upon the district fund. The suggestion contained in the last clause of the question is, I fear, impracticable.
§ Mr. PIRIEasked, in view of the disparity in numbers of nearly five to one between those who commence the higher grade course and those, who stay to finish it and are afterwards able to take the intermediate certificate, will he institute an inquiry to see whether a better method of selection of the desired number of suitable pupils can be found, seeing that the percentage of those who do not mature seems to indicate that many take up the course without proper knowledge of its intention and requirements; and would he also make inquiry whether any higher grade schools which have so far failed to justify their existence could be taken off the list with a view to the amount of public funds now expended on them being made available for primary education, in connection with which some of the Grants are now seriously curtailed?
Mr. McKINNON WOODAs to the first part of the question, the necessary power for dealing with the difficulty is reserved 1534 by Article 144 of the Day School Code and the accompanying footnote. As to the second, any school which fails to fulfil its function as a higher grade school will be removed from the list after due notice.