1925-1926-1927 - Department of Education and Skills

24Garden plots and school libraries are both equally rare in theschools of this Division. However, the Carnegie scheme of acirculating library is in active operation in both Co. Sligo andCo. Donegal, and can be expanded to meet the needs or demandsof either county for reading matter.Pupil:' A.ttendance.-l'he introduction of the Compulsory SchoolAttendance Act in January of this year (1927) was a big event inthe history of our primary school system. It is too soon yet toattempt to pronounce on its success, but teachers state that, whilean all-round improvement has been effected, it is less than theyhad anticipated.Pupils' If ealth.-~\.s stated last year, the health of pupils almosteverywhere, but more especially in towns and villages, appears tosuffer from the fact that they are often sent out to school on wetmornings without an overcoat or other extra covering to protectthem from the rain, and have to sit all day in school in their rainsoddenclothes. This applies chiefly to the boys. The girls arenearly always provided with coats or shawls.Methods of l'ellching.-Thererespect.is little cbange to be noted in thisAs regards skill in teaching. many teachers unfortunately inthe early years of their professional life get into a groove, out ofwhich they find it extremely difficult to escape; the spirit ofexperiment disappears, and with it nearly all originality. Onereason for this undoubtedly is that in our small rural schools,which constitute the vast majority, a teacher has little or noopportunity of seeing anv methods but his own, and these in timetend to become fossilised.pjOoficiency.-The proficiency of the pupils, speaking generally,is highest in the poorer parts of this Division and lowest in themore comfortable districts. West Mayo and West Donegal haveboth a much higher- proportion of good schools than East Donegal,Sligo, or Roscommon. The maritime position of the two formerID [r)c\" m.\~t\lJl.: \l)(,j'ug,'I'l. ~o ))e a contributing cause 01 thIS, butthe maritime position of a good deal of the County Sligo does notseem to produce any similar result.Poverty may be a partial cause, for poverty is a great sharpenerof the intellect of youth; the children of the poor get into theheart of the realities of things at a much earlier age than childrenbrought up in easy comfort.The fact that the people of the poorer districts of the Divisionare mainly bilingual, and that for the past twenty years they havereceived bilingual education, has probably also had a good dealto do with the present comparative superiority of those westerndistricts.With the introduction or Irish into nearly all the schools, andthe change 01 programmes within the past few years, the schools