HC Deb 29 November 1917 vol 99 c2258W
Mr. T. M. HEALY

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that in the Colony of Sierra Leone two Government schools received a Grant of £6,560, with an average attendance of about 250 pupils, while all the other denominational schools receive only the sum of £4,160, with an average attendance of 8,000 pupils; whether the Government in that Colony favour Mahomedanism, paying Mahomedan teachers a salary while they refuse to pay Christian teachers any salary, and if they have notified the latter that their bonuses will be discontinued; whether the Bo School in Sierra Leone is a non-Christian school where no Christian doctrine is taught; whether this school receives a larger Grant than all the other schools put together, seeing that the Vote for the Bo School in 1917 was £4,400, and all other schools £4,160; and if he will explain why pupils of the Bo non-Christian school receive nearly £40 per head and the Government model school, 75 per cent. of which is Mahomedan, £20 per head, while the Christian schools receive only about 10s. per head on the average?

Mr. LONG

The information in my possession does not enable me to give a complete reply to the hon. Member, and I am asking the Governor of Sierra Leone for a report on the matter.