Chapter 353: Nine-Year Compulsory Education

The industrial department acted quickly, soon producing a complete plan for the integration of the shipbuilding industry, which was then passed by a vote in the cabinet government.

After the vote passed, the finance department allocated a sum of funds to the industrial department to support the shipbuilding industry, and Spain's rectification of its domestic shipbuilding industry officially began.

The purpose of industry integration is to cultivate some powerful monopolistic enterprises, but such a plan cannot be made public.

Because, to a certain extent, cultivating monopolistic enterprises is also exterminating these small enterprises, which is destined to arouse the dissatisfaction of these small business owners.

But this is unavoidable; small enterprises are of little use to the country, and only medium and large-scale enterprises of a certain size have real value to the country.

For the sake of the country's interests, the interests of these small shipyards can be sacrificed. Of course, during the process of shipyard integration, the industrial department will also closely monitor the movements of these small shipyards.

The workers at the shipyards will be properly resettled; they will not lose their jobs just because the enterprises they work for are merged and integrated.

The shareholders of the integrated shipyards will also receive appropriate compensation in line with market value. Apart from their enterprises being merged, they do not seem to have any other major losses.

During the process of shipbuilding industry rectification, other departments also provided auxiliary support.

In order to cultivate more and better shipbuilders for Spain's shipbuilding industry, the education department specifically opened several technical training schools related to the shipbuilding industry and reached cooperation agreements with several major Spanish shipyards.

Speaking of technical training for workers, such technical schools are currently widely welcomed in Spain.

Spain's education system is dual-track, with both cultural education and technical education providing good paths forward.

Throughout the primary school education stage, Spanish education focuses on teaching basic knowledge, and the knowledge taught is also relatively simple language, mathematics, and history.

After entering the six-year middle school stage, students are stratified. Students with better grades will enter junior high and high school, aiming to improve their academic qualifications and eventually become high-status university students.

Another group of students who are less interested in studying or have poorer grades can enter various types of technical training schools.

These technical training schools have basically reached cooperation agreements with local factories and enterprises, and after successfully graduating from technical school, students can basically be assigned jobs.

It is worth mentioning that the income of these students who successfully graduate from technical schools is often higher than that of students with junior high or high school diplomas.

Unless these students can get into university, their income at the initial stage of employment can never compare to that of technical students.

Don't look at Spain's per capita annual income of only 229. 4 pesetas; the actual annual income of workers is already close to 260 pesetas.

The income of these technical workers who graduate from technical schools is even higher than that of ordinary workers, generally reaching around 270 pesetas.

After working for a few years and becoming skilled workers, their income is generally over 300 pesetas.

Spain's per capita annual income has risen precisely because of the continuous expansion of the worker scale, and it is increasing every year at a relatively fast speed.

It is precisely because Spain's education system has achieved dual-track education that the education department's fiscal budget has always been relatively high among all departments, second only to the most important defense department.

In the full year of 1890, the Spanish government's total fiscal expenditure reached as high as 1. 021 billion pesetas, of which military spending accounted for 335 million pesetas, occupying 27. 7% of Spain's total annual fiscal expenditure.

The education department's fiscal budget is second only to military spending, reaching as high as 192 million pesetas, occupying 15. 7% of the Spanish government's total annual fiscal expenditure.

The industrial department is in third place, with a fiscal budget as high as 187 million pesetas, occupying 15. % of the Spanish government's total annual fiscal expenditure.

From this aspect, one can also see the importance the Spanish government attaches to education, and the influence of the Minister of Education has never been lower than that of important cabinet ministers like those of industry or agriculture.

With such strong investment in education, Spain's educational environment has also improved significantly compared to 20 years ago.

During the stage when Carlo had just become King of Spain, the illiteracy rate in Spain was close to 70%; the vast majority of people in the country were illiterate, and more than half of the non-illiterate population only had a primary school education.

And 20 years later, at the end of 1890, Spain's illiteracy rate had already dropped to around 15%. Part of this consists of the elderly population who can no longer receive education, and another part consists of young children under the age of 6.

Except for the population that is too young or too old, for all school-age children aged 6 and above, the Spanish government has popularized primary school-level compulsory education and encourages them to pursue higher-level junior high and high school education.

Among the nearly 85% of the non-illiterate population, those with only a primary school education account for 48. %, those with a junior high or secondary technical school education account for 37. %, those with a high school or higher technical school education account for 12. %, and those with a university degree or above account for only 0. 8%.

From this data, it can also be seen that Spain's biggest problem at present is the insufficient number of people receiving higher education.

However, this is also unavoidable; after all, the prerequisite for applying to university is having a high school diploma, and the prerequisite for entering high school is having a junior high diploma.

The good news is that the population in Spain with a middle school-level education already exceeds half of the non-illiterate population, which also means that the number of university students in Spain will continue to increase in the future.

In the first 10 years after Carlo became King of Spain, the number of university students cultivated in Spain each year was less than 7, 00.

In the last 10 years, the number of university students graduating from all universities in Spain each year has exceeded 14, 00, which is more than double the previous figure.

According to this trend, perhaps when 1900 arrives, the number of university students in Spain will be able to double, and the number of people receiving junior high and high school education will also be able to increase by more than half.

Currently, under the premise of popularizing six-year primary school compulsory education nationwide, some members of parliament have begun to discuss nine-year compulsory education.

Nine-year compulsory education is actually adding junior high compulsory education on the basis of primary school, with the government bearing all tuition fees for students in the primary and junior high stages, accelerating the popularization of secondary education in Spain.

This is certainly a good thing for education, but it might not be a good thing for Spain's finances.

The education department also discussed the pros and cons of nine-year compulsory education. In the end, Minister of Education Alan Carlton was startled by the huge educational funding required for nine-year compulsory education, and then decisively abandoned the idea of nine-year compulsory education for the time being.

If nine-year compulsory education were to be popularized, the education department's fiscal budget would have to be raised to the same level as military spending.

Although Spain's finances are still in good shape, taking on such a large fiscal expenditure all at once is also a significant challenge for the Spanish government. Originally, Minister of Education Alan Carlton was about to give up, but after hearing the education department's thoughts on nine-year compulsory education, Carlo finally decided to support the education department, allowing Spain to enter a new educational milestone.

Of course, it is unrealistic to implement nine-year compulsory education nationwide all at once. On one hand, the finances cannot support such a huge expenditure; on the other hand, the education department is not prepared for the full popularization of nine-year compulsory education.

After comprehensive consideration, Carlo decided to conduct a pilot program in the two major cities of Madrid and Barcelona, implementing nine-year compulsory education regionally to see the results first.

Although the population of these two cities is also large, compared to popularizing nine-year compulsory education nationwide, it will reduce a lot of fiscal pressure.

On December 11, 1890, Minister of Education Alan Carlton submitted a brand-new plan report on the pilot implementation of nine-year compulsory education to Carlo, detailing the benefits of implementing nine-year compulsory education in these two cities and what expenses the education department should bear.

The costs brought by nine-year compulsory education are indeed not small; even if it is only implemented in the two cities of Madrid and Barcelona, the education department's fiscal funding needs to be increased to 20 million pesetas.

However, all this expenditure will not be in vain. Because according to the report by Minister of Education Alan Carlton, after three years, which is when the first batch of junior high students under the nine-year compulsory education graduate, the population with junior high education in Madrid and Barcelona will increase by more than 10% annually.

Secondary technical education is also counted as part of nine-year compulsory education; even if only half of the students choose technical schools, Madrid and Barcelona will have thousands more reliable technical workers every year.

This is just for two cities. If the scope of nine-year compulsory education is expanded to the whole of Spain, Spain could have nearly 100, 00 more excellent workers every year.

This is a huge milestone for the education industry and also a huge breakthrough and progress for industry.

After these technically trained workers enter the workforce, they can effectively improve the technical level of Spanish workers. The higher the level of the workers, the higher the income they can naturally obtain.

In this way, the popularization of nine-year compulsory education will not only change the status quo of education but also change the status quo of industry and the Spanish economy.

Apart from the government's wallet being a bit thinner, it seems there are no other downsides.

After Carlo confirmed that there were no problems with this nine-year compulsory education pilot implementation plan, he asked Minister of Education Alan Carlton to submit this plan to the cabinet government, have the cabinet government vote to pass it, and then allocate funds for implementation.

The cabinet government's vote also passed quickly; whether it was Prime Minister Cánovas or other cabinet ministers, there was no need to oppose a plan clearly supported by Carlo.

What's more, if this nine-year compulsory education pilot plan can be successful, it is indeed a huge step forward for Spain.

Why do Carlo and the cabinet ministers believe so much in the changes brought about by compulsory education?

This brings us to the important achievements brought about by Spain's primary school compulsory education. Because the government bears all tuition fees during the primary school stage, the expenses for students during their primary school studies have been reduced by more than half.

Almost all school-age children in Spain have participated in primary school compulsory education, and the enrollment rate of school-age children has reached a terrifying 97. %.

Except for children with congenital defects, almost all children can enjoy free primary school education. Even those from extremely impoverished families can apply for additional education subsidies.

For those families that are truly impoverished and cannot afford student expenses even after tuition is waived, the Spanish government will fully bear all expenses for students during the primary school stage, including miscellaneous fees, meal fees, and accommodation fees, etc.

For most families that are impoverished but not that impoverished, they can also apply for grants specifically established by the royal family.

The difficulty of applying for grants is slightly easier than the former, and there is a certain quota that can be applied for every year.

In addition to grants, at every stage of primary school, junior high, high school, and university, there are scholarships, which are rewards specifically established for students with good character and academic performance.

Grants are specifically established for impoverished students, while scholarships are aimed at all students with good academic performance. Of course, if a student is impoverished and has good academic performance, they can enjoy both grants and scholarships at the same time.

Carlo's annual expenditure on scholarships and grants reaches tens of millions of pesetas, and currently, millions of students have received scholarships or grants issued by the royal family.

Undoubtedly, this is Carlo's means of winning over the hearts of the people.

A considerable portion of the income earned by royal enterprises will be returned to the public. Whether it is subsidies for the impoverished population or grants for impoverished students, etc., this is a small act of kindness that Carlo has done for all the people of Spain.

Such dedication also has quite generous returns. Even though many people know that the royal family's wealth is immense, no one feels the slightest jealousy toward the royal family.

After all, the royal family also spends a lot of money on subsidies for the impoverished population every year, and that money has truly and genuinely flowed into the pockets of the impoverished population.

Regarding subsidies for the impoverished population, Carlo controls them quite strictly. No link is allowed to withhold any amount, and it must be distributed to the impoverished population in full.

Regarding this point, Carlo even specifically instructed the Spanish performance assessment department. As long as any incident of withholding subsidies for the impoverished population is discovered, the local government officials will not be able to get an excellent rating in that year's assessment, and it will basically end with a poor result.

After receiving a poor performance evaluation, local officials should not think about getting promoted in the short term; just being able to keep their official position is already quite good.

For the nine-year compulsory education currently being piloted, Carlo has assigned a task to Minister of Education Alan Carlton.

If nine-year compulsory education is well implemented in the two cities of Madrid and Barcelona and achieves quite good results, then Carlo will consider fully implementing nine-year compulsory education a few years later.

As the Minister of Education who proposed and promoted nine-year compulsory education, Alan Carlton can naturally also obtain a quite generous political achievement.

Relying on the political achievement of promoting nine-year compulsory education, it will not be a difficult thing for Alan Carlton to obtain a title in the future.

Because the implementation of nine-year compulsory education will take several years to see results, Carlo even directly promised Alan Carlton that he would continue to serve as Minister of Education in the next cabinet government until nine-year compulsory education has results.

If the implementation of nine-year compulsory education goes well, Alan Carlton will have hope of advancing further in the cabinet.

In any case, the cabinet government will undergo major changes in the next term, and Prime Minister Cánovas, who is already over 60, is destined to withdraw from the political stage.

By that time, Carlo would not mind giving more room for advancement to capable people. The Spanish government still needs more fresh blood; this fresh blood will not only bring more vitality to the Spanish government but also make the Spanish government more pioneering rather than conservative.

(End of chapter)