Mr. De la Bèreasked the President of the Board of Education whether the per- 451W centage of children passing the school certificate examination in connection with the years 1940 and 1941, respectively, has increased over the percentage passing in 1939; whether he is aware of the numerous cases of children who obtained a number of credits in the year 1940 in various subjects and yet were failed in their examination; and whether he can give some explanation regarding these matters?
§ Mr. ButlerThe percentage of passes in the School Certificate Examinations in the years 1940 and 1941 showed an increase of 2 and 3 per cent. respectively over the comparable figure for 1939. The increase has been due to a variety of causes, among which may be mentioned the new regulations for the School Certificate adopted in 1939 and the special concessions made in some cases to schools suffering from the results of evacuation and war conditions generally. I have no figures showing the number of pupils in 1940 who obtained credits in individual subjects without passing the examination as a whole, but I have no reason to suppose that the number was greater than in previous years.