Dr. MORGANasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what reductions are being proposed in the estimates for educational purposes in British Guiana; how many schools will be abolished; and what is the comparative cost per head as compared with Great Britain?
§ Dr. SHIELSThe estimates in British Guiana for the year 1931 disclose no reduction in the number of Government teachers employed in Government or in grant-aided schools, and no such reductions have up to the present been approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. A Financial Commission has recently visited the Colony, and the commissioners will be returning to this country in the near future, when their recommendations in regard to these estimates, including the provision for expenditure on education, will be examined. In the meantime, approval has been given for the continuance of expenditure on all existing services. The total Government expenditure on education per head of population in British Guiana is 5s. 4d., as compared with a total expenditure from public funds on education of £2 1s. 9d. per head in England and Wales, which figure, of course, includes1992W expenditure on many forms of higher education which have no counterpart in British Guiana.