[From Education Week,1926]

Evening Classes.

IN the provision of Technical and Commercial Classes the Education Authority are considerably handicapped by the small number of the local industries. Every effort is made, how ever, to meet the demands of students, who, having left school, desire to continue their education along more specialised lines.

For young people who have recently left the Elementary Schools, Evening Classes are held at several schools throughout the Island Attempts have frequently been made to establish classes in many country districts, but apart from one or two exceptions, these have met with little success. Naturally, such classes have a greater chance of flourishing in the larger centres of population. The classes are organised and conducted according to the syllabuses of the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, and at the end of the session students are expected to take the examinations conducted by that body.

At Douglas, Preliminary Courses for boys who have recently left the Elementary Schools, involving attendance on three evenings each week during the winter months, are held at the Secondary School. Technical courses are devised for those engaged in the Engineering, Electrical and Building trades, and Commercial courses for those whose occupations are found in offices, shops, etc. Preliminary Commercial courses for girls are held also at the Tynwald Street Girls' School. At Ramsey, similar courses are provided.

For those who are sufficiently qualified, Senior Technical and Commercial courses may be pursued at the Douglas Secondary School, and these cover, generally, a three years' course of instruction. On the Technical side the courses provided are :-

1. Engineering, including Engineering Science, Practical Mathematics, Engineering Drawing and Internal Combustion Engines.

2. Electrical Engineering, with instruction in. Electricity and Magnetism, Practical Mathematics and Engineering Drawing.

3. Building, comprising Building Science, Building Drawing and Practical Carpentry and Joinery.

A course is also provided for Pharmaceutical Students, and this includes Chemistry, Botany and Physics, all taken practically as well as theoretically.

The Senior Commercial Courses provide suitable instruction at appropriate stages and at standards depending on the degree of attainment already achieved, in the subjects : Commercial Arithmetic, Theory and Practice of Commerce, English and Commercial Correspondence, Book-keeping, Shorthand, French.

A class in Physical Exercises for Women, intended mainly for students attending the various classes, is also held at the Secondary School Gymnasium

A Dressmaking and Tailoring Class has been successfully conducted at St. John's during the past winter.

Evening classes in Domestic Subjects are also held at the Manx Residential and Day Technical College for Women during the winter months. Classes are held in Cookery, Needlework, Dress-making, Millinery and Upholstery, and are usually arranged in courses of ten weekly lessons.

The fees for Evening Classes are small, but the advantages to be derived from them are inestimable. The active co-operation of parents and employers is especially desirable in such work, so as to secure punctual and regular attendance throughout the session.