SulijecL Lant>uao;e. o o •1-?

Attendance.

Arabic Literature.. .. .. .. Arabic .. .. 133 Bii>liCT ilatheinatic.' .. .. ..j 63 Physical icience .. .. -. .. ,, • ■ • • 93 Arab .\stronomy and fcicience .. .. ,, .. .. 31 Knjrlish Literature .. .. .. Eng'Iish .. .. 39 French Literature .. .. .. French .. .. 77 Political Economy .. .. .. ,, .. .. 137 Lectures for Ejcyptian Ladies .. .. .. .. 58 Tlio inauguration of a course of lectures exclusive for ladies is an interesting dejiarture; of the 58 lady students in regular attendance, 35 are Egyptians and 23 Europeans. Tlie University has been fortunate in receiving considerable encouragement from foreign countries; the Italian Government presented a complete set of laboratory apparatus and accessories to enable a course in physics to be undertaken; France has consented to receive and educate gratuitously 3 young Egyptians sent by the University; lastly, thanks to the assistance of several foreign countries, municipalities and learned societies, the University library already possesses a collection of 8,000 works. The number of advanced students maintained in Europe at the expense of the University in order to form a nucleus of future professors has been increased from 11 to 19.

57. Agricultural and Technical Education.

During last year the equipment and organization of the new trades schools at Boulak, Luxor, Damanhour, Beni-Souef, and Toukh was taken in haiid. The first three have already commenced work with 225 boys and 32 girls ; the other two will be ready in the early part of 1910.

The sums collected locally for these schools amount to £E. 51,000, and an income of £E. 3,600 a year from the rent of lands with which they have been endowed is available for maintenance. In addition, annual grants will be made by the State and by the AVakfs administration. Progress has been made with a small trades school at Nag-Hamadi, and a scheme for a similar school at Sohag in the province of Girgeh, to give instruction in weaving, the chief industry of the locality, has been successfully launched.

The four trades schools of older date, namely, those at Abou-Tig and Fayoum, the Mohammed Ali School at Alexandria, and the Coptic trades school at Cairo, have made fair progress, the attendance at the end of December being 586 as compared with 442 in 1908, but the standard of work is not yet, however, equal to that in the model workshops. Five of the provincial trades schools have adopted a suggestion to include a section for agriculture and horticulture, and in four of the new schools special attention will be given to weaving, one of the oldest industries in the country.

A school of practical housewifery for girls has been instituted at Boulak, in addition to tbe tiades school for boys. It will provide practical training for domestic service and for the duties of wife and mother, a matter of especial importance in Egypt, where among the poorer classes the laws of household economy and hygiene are unknown and infantile mortality is very high.

The chief difficulty encountered in organizing trades schools is to obtain a trained staff. The fact that all instruction is given in Arabic and that the schools depend for their work upon the orders of the local inhabitants points to the desirability of appointing native teachers. Workshop instructors are trained in the Boulak Technical School and the two model workshops, but it is difficult to keep pace witii the demand. In order to provide native teachers for the higher technical schools four additional students have been sent to Europe, thus bringing up to 10 the number of those now taking technical courses abroad.

Turning to the six technical schools and workshops under the direction of the Department, the total number in attendance in 1909 was 956 as compared with 930 in tbe previous year, and in the final examinations 88 students out of 93 qualified for diplomas.

The number of students enrolled in the School of Engineering was greater than House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.