The Government schools are all in full swing with a greater complement of students than in any previous term. The Middle and Normal schools have joined forces, I understand, in order to economize the running expenses. This has been a bitter pill for many who have lost their jobs in consequence. The Ministry of Education have reduced the official grant to the School of Forestry which has been established here. It is a pity that this branch of education, one of the most important for the country at this present time, should be so neglected. 'There are not half a dozen forestry schools in the whole of China and the one planted here, four or five years ago, has practically been ruined' by the slackness in the administration on the part of those in charge.
The "New School Regulations," introducing the short term system, have been launched: From henceforth students will save two years in the completion of their education. In the lower grades the work is to be completed in three years instead of four and a student of the Middle School will receive his graduating certificate at the end of three years instead of the usual four years. Night schools are being promoted throughout the district and the teaching is being done voluntarily, as a patriotic act, by the students of the High School. For some days the students paraded the streets advertising this new venture and recruited quite a number of—students. In the country districts the night school does not catch on at all. The farmer class are, generally speaking, too tired and sleepy, after the evening rice, to struggle with new Icarning.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.