22. Captain CRAIGasked whether, under the rules of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, no credit is given to national school teachers for teaching English grammar, and, as a con- 2065 sequence, simple analysis (which carries credit to the teacher) is gradually replacing the subject of English grammar, and the pupils suffer in their scholastic attainments accordingly; and what action the Chief Secretary proposes to take?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member's question appears to be based upon some misapprehension. The Commissioners of National Education inform me that English grammar is specified in their code as one of the ordinary subjects to be taught in national schools—the analysis of simple sentences being a part of such teaching.
§ 28. Mr. CHARLES CRAIGasked how many schoolmistresses in Irish national schools are under three or six months' notice from priest-managers that they are to be superseded by nuns; and what steps do the Commissioners propose to take to prevent the disemployment of teachers trained at the public expense in order that the education of Irish girls may pass into the hands of nuns; and is the Chief Secretary aware that independent educational experts, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, have condemned the educational training given by nuns?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education are only aware of one case in which it is proposed that a school conducted by ordinary national teachers shall be placed in charge of nuns. The answer to the second paragraph of the question is in the negative.
§ 29. Mr. CHARLES CRAIGasked whether the then resident Commissioner of National Education declared on oath, before the Powis Commission, that the Board permitted nuns to violate the rule which forbids secular and religious instruction to be carried on simultaneously, a rule which was framed to prevent proselytising, and do the Commissioners connive at the violation of this and other parts of the conscience Clause on the part of nuns; and will the Chief Secretary say whether the rule, which has been modified by inserting the words in the same apartment, has, as a change of a fundamental rule, received the sanction of the Lord Lieutenant?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo such declaration as is attributed to the late Sir Alexander MacDonnell, who WHS Resident Commissioner in 1868, when the Powis Commission was sitting, can be traced in the published evidence given before that Com- 2066 mission. The Commissioners of National Education do not connive at the violation of the rule referred to or any other of the conscience Clauses. The words "in the same apartment" that occur in Rule 31 of the present code first appeared in Part I., Section IV., Rule 7, of the Rules and Regulations of 1354, which, were submitted to and received the approval of the then Lord Lieutenant.
§ 30. Mr. CHARLES CRAIGasked if the Chief Secretary will state in how many national schools in Ireland is Rule 16 of the Code of the National Board of Education departed from in permitting emblems and symbols of Roman Catholicism to be permanently exhibited in schoolrooms; and how many of these schools are attended by Protestants?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAs I have already informed the hon. Member for North Londonderry, the Commissioners of National Education have on various occasions sanctioned the exhibition in national schools, during the hours of secular instruction, of pictures of scriptural subjects. Some time ago it was brought to their notice, however, that, acting on this sanction, the managers of a few schools had introduced statues of a religious character. The Commissioners decided not to take any action in these cases, but they resolved that the introduction of any further statues into any national school should be expressely forbidden. The schools in which pictures and statues are exhibited are comparatively few, and are mostly convent national schools attended solely by Roman Catholic children with one or two exceptions, and in these cases only a few Protestant children are on the rolls. If any violation of the rule is brought to the notice of the Commissioners the matter will be inquired into.