Annual report on Brunei / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Brunei / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/68 (page 14)
    The high price of gold thread has retarded progress in the resuscitation of the weaving of Jong Sarat, the beautiful gold sarongs, but two table-runners of this type were included in the State's Wedding-present to Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth. Mrs. D. H. Trumble deserves great credit for the interest which she has taken in the local Arts and Crafts and for the assistance and encouragement which she has given to the workers. Chapter VII. SOCIAL SERVICES. Education. There are thirty four schools in the State, of which 25 are Malay vernacular schools, 5 are Chinese schools and 4 are English schools. Twenty two of the Malav schools are Government schools directly controlled by the Education Department, the other three being estate schools for which the buildings are provided and maintained by the owners of rubber estates and the teachers and school equipment are provided by Government. The Chinese schools are all private schools directed bv local com¬ mittees. The English schools are also private schools, three of them being directed by a Roman Catholic Mission while the fourth is owned and controlled by the British Malayan Petroleum Company Ltd. A measure of Government control of these private schools is ensured by the Registration of Schools Enact¬ ment 1939 which requires all non-Government schools and all teachers employed in them to be registered and provides for their inspection by Government Officers. At present there are no secondary schools in the State and all schools are primary schools, the majority being rural schools. Malay Schools. During the year one new Malay school was opened at Kampong Sungai Handling, Brunei District. Enrolment and School Attendance. By the School Atten¬ dance Enactment all male Malaysian children between the ages of seven and fourteen years are required to attend Malay ver¬ nacular schools provided that a school is within two miles of their home. This education is provided free and school books and writing materials are also supplied free to those pupils whose parents are unable to afford them. The following table shows the number of pupils enrolled in the Malay Schools at the end of 1948:— School. Nuin her of Pupils. M. F. Total 1. Brunei Town 514 71 585 2. Sengkurong 78 4 82 3. Kilanas 45 11 56 4. Gadong (Estate School) .. 42 45