1883.—Sir James Fergusson.
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a proportion certainly not satisfactory; in the present year, for the first time under the system of separating the examinations into two divisions, the result has been that at the first examination 53 of the 120 candidates passed, and at the second examination 23 of the 34 candidates passed.
I notice also that of the 15 candidates presented by the Elphinstone College, 13 passed. Results of the year. With reference to the lower examinations, we must again observe, as was done in past years, that the results of the Matriculation and Previous Examinations have been very unsatisfactory. The percentage of success in three years successively has been only 34, 28 and 36 for Matriculation, and for Previous Examinations 42, 25 and 38. This point, perhaps, is one more for the consideration of the schools which send candidates up, than for the University, but it cannot be a matter of indifference to those that wish well to the system that so large a proportion of candidates should be insufficiently prepared. We have to examine whether there be anything in the system that is at fault, and whether a too high standard be exacted. But while so large a proportion of failures would lead some to think the standard is too high, we know the Principals of the Elphinstone and Deccan Colleges have represented that the candidates are not sufficiently advanced in English to enable them to take the full benefit of the instruction given them; and when we observe that in some institutions the proportion passed is very large, it is evident that either the system of teaching in those institutions is better than in the generality, or they exercise a more wholesome discretion in the selection of candidates for presentation. Thus I find that whereas in the Elphinstone High School only 54 passed of 108 presented, at St. Mary's Institution, Bombay, 21 passed of 26 presented, at the New English School, Poona, 18 passed out of 22 presented, at the Rajaram High School, Kolhapur, 17 out of 22 passed. The number is small from the Bishop's High School at Poona, but 5 passed out of 6; from the Cathedral High School, also 5 out of 6; and from the Victoria High School, Poona, 3 were presented and 3 passed. I would call the attention of the Senate to a remarkable feature in the total percentage. Whereas out of 1,600 candidates 572 passed, it must be remembered that 1,051 candidates came from 65 different schools and 549 came from private tuition; the total percentage, taking the whole number of passes as compared with presentations, being in 1 in 2.79. Of candidates from schools alone 1 passed in every 2.09, which is nearly the proportion maintained in the Elphinstone
