8.—6

8

Free Secondary Education. (Table K5.) Chart showing General Scheme of Free National Education in New Zealand as provided by the Education Act, 1914.

Under the regulations free places are divided into two classes —junior and senior—both being tenable at secondary schools and district high schools, or, under somewhat different conditions, at technical schools. Generally speaking, junior free places are tenable for two years, with a possible extension in certain cases to three years. In the case of their being held at district high schools they are tenable to the age of seventeen. The means of qualification are (a) the special examinations for junior scholarships and for junior free places, and (&) the certificate of proficiency. Senior free places may be obtained on passing the Intermediate Examination, or without external examination after the satisfactory completion of a two-years secondary course, on a recommendation by the principal if the Director of Education concurs. The latter form of qualification is becoming increasingly applicable, there being 863 cases of complete exemption from examination and 18 cases of partial exemption in 1915, as compared with 791