§ Mr. SAVERYasked the President of the Board of Education if he can give figures showing the progress made towards the reduction in the size of classes in our elementary and secondary schools?
§ Lord E. PERCYThe number of classes in public elementary schools with more than 50 children on the roll was 19,982 on 31st March, 1926, as compared with 21,345 on 31st March, 1925, and 24,972 on the corresponding date in 1924. As regards secondary schools, there is no special problem of over-large classes, though there was an actual decrease, between 1923–24 and 1925–26, in the average number of pupils per class—the figures being 232 and 23, respectively. The problem is rather one of school provision, and my hon. Friend will find fuller particulars, both as to this subject and as to the reduction of the size of elementary school classes, in the statement which I made in the House last Thursday.