168 SCIENCE TEACHING. 



(Under the Agricultural scheme for such a county these lessons would be supple- 

 mented by itinerant instruction in Dairying, Poultry-keeping, &c.) Similarly, 

 co-ordination can be effected in the teaching of Drawing in the different centres. 

 The Christian Brothers' Schools at Nenagh and Thurles are introducing the 

 teaching of Practical Science, Drawing, and Manual Instruction, and of 

 Technical Subjects suited to the local trades. The Lace class at the Presenta- 

 tion Convent in Thurles is being improved by aid for additional equipment and 

 teaching", and a Day Technical School for domestic servants is being organised 

 at the Mercy Convent, Nenagh. 



SCIENCE AND ART GRANTS. 



Besides its special endowment for technical instruction, to which the fore- 

 going relates, and the grant under the Technical Instruction Act of 1889 in 

 Ireland, the Department now administers, as from the ist of April of this year, 

 the grant for Science and Art in Ireland hitherto administered by the Board of 

 Education, South Kensington. This is a Parliamentary grant in aid of Science 

 and Art Instruction in day schools and in evening schools, and in some 

 institutions (for example. Schools of Art), in which instruction is given partly 

 in the day time and partly in the evening. It is an educational endowment 

 which is capable of being utilised to a much greater extent than it has hitherto 

 been in Ireland, both for the purposes of a liberal education and, indirectly, 

 for those of a system of technical instruction. Ireland, in 1900, only earned 

 ;^3,840 from this grant; while Scotland, in 1899 (the latest year for which 

 figures are available), earned from it ;^38,8oo. 



Instruction in Science and Art in Ireland has of late years fallen to a very 

 low ebb. Ten years ago, in 1891, the Science and Art grants in Ireland 

 amounted to ;^8,:\^8i, a sum which, though small, was twice the figure to which 

 the grants have since declined. In 1891 the number of boys presented for 

 Science in the Intermediate Examinations was 2,885; the number in 1899 was 

 673, less than one-fourth. In i89ithe total number of boys presented at these 

 examinations was 3,856, whilst in 1899 it was 5,726. 



Such was the situation of Science and Arr instruction in this country when 

 the Department took up its work as administrator of the Science and Art 

 grant. Happily, it was a situation the mischiefs of which had already begun 

 to be recognised by educational authorities in Ireland. For the Primary 

 Schools under their control the National Commissioners of Education, following 

 the recommendations of the Manual Instruction Commission, were engaged in 

 introducing a new Programme, in which elementary Science and Manual 

 Instruction are leading features. For Secondary Schools the Intermediate 

 Education Commission had reported strongly in favour of Natural Science 

 teaching ; and an Act of Parliament had just been passed to enable an enlarged 

 Intermediate Education Board to carry out the summary of conclusions of the 

 Report. These facts, together with the statutory means for educational co- 

 ordination provided in the Act which created this Department, rendered the 

 occasion propitious for reform. 



The Department accordingly proceeded to revise the system on which the 

 rpi^ Science and Art grant had previously been administered 



New Programme •'" 1^-^?"^'. ^"d to draw up a new Programme of 

 ° ■ instruction in the subjects for which the grant might be 



earned in Secondary Day Schools (the revision of the system as regards Evening 

 Schools being left over for the time being). This Programme was conceived 

 with the two-fold object of rendering it less difficult for Irish schools to avail 

 themselves of the Science and Art grant, and of helping them at the same time 

 to introduce into their curriculum an element of great value both to general 



