"The rural schools are located in the _barrios_ or rural subdivisions of the municipalities. Of the 1,200,000 inhabitants which comprise the total population of the Island, about 79 per cent live in this rural area and about 70 per cent of them are illiterate. At the present time there are approximately 331,233 children of school age (between 5 and 18 years) living in the barrios. Of these only 91,966 or 27 per cent were enrolled in the rural schools at any time during the past year. This shows a decrease from the figures reported last year, but the fact is accounted for by an order issued from the central office prohibiting rural teachers from enrolling more than 80 pupils. In some of the populous barrios the teachers were enrolling 150 pupils and sometimes more. Inasmuch as neither the material conditions of the school buildings nor the professional equipment of the teachers justified such a burden, it was deemed wise, even in the face of an overwhelming school population for which no provision is made, to limit the enrollment to a size compatible with a semblance of efficiency. The average number of pupils belonging during the year to the rural schools was 76,341. The average number of teachers at work in these schools was 1,243. This figure includes a number of teachers whose salary was paid by the school boards from their surplus funds. The corps of teachers for the entire Island is fixed by the legislature each year when the appropriations to pay their salaries are made, the commissioner being charged with its distribution among the various municipalities, but the school boards may, within certain limitations, increase the number allotted to them provided they pay their salaries from any surplus funds at their disposal. The average number of pupils taught by each teacher was about 63. The average daily attendance was 69,786, or 89.7 per cent, which gives an average of about 58 pupils receiving instruction daily from each teacher. About 59 per cent of the pupils were boys and 41 per cent girls. The average age of all pupils in the rural schools was 10.1 years.