Chapter 162 Education Reform

It turns out that Prime Minister Primo dared to come up with such an exaggerated five-year development plan goal after practical considerations and adequate response.

In 1873, the total fiscal expenditure of the Spanish government reached 743.3 million pesetas. Since the Spanish Revolution, the Spanish government has not faced such a high fiscal expenditure.

But compared with this year's total fiscal budget, 743.3 million pesetas is not a big number.

Because this year, the government's total fiscal budget is as high as 897.2 million pesetas, which is more than 150 million more than last year.

Such a sufficient fiscal budget did instantly solve the concerns of the cabinet ministers, and also let the ministers of the second cabinet government maintain sufficient expectations for the completion of the second five-year development plan.

Under the insistence of Prime Minister Primo, the House of Representatives quickly passed the 1874 fiscal budget submitted by the cabinet government. However, this did not quell the discussion of the fiscal budget among the people. After all, such a high fiscal expenditure is almost twice the annual fiscal expenditure during the first five-year plan.

For the Spanish government, this is definitely a gamble. If this fiscal expenditure of nearly 900 million pesetas can really bring more returns, then the public will naturally applaud.

But if the fiscal expenditure of nearly 900 million pesetas cannot achieve any good results, various doubts about Prime Minister Primo will come.

What is the confidence of Prime Minister Primo in expanding the fiscal budget of government departments so ostentatiously?

Of course, it is the various enterprises and equipment purchased at low prices from various countries, including the technical information, production data and technical workers with production experience owned by these enterprises.

Although the Spanish government is constantly digging out those excellent engineers and scientific researchers on the surface, it is also constantly absorbing the employees of these purchased companies to come to Spain behind the scenes.

One or two technical workers may not play a big role, but what if there are hundreds or even thousands? These technical workers concentrated in any factory can effectively improve the production experience and productivity of the factory.

For some existing factories in Spain, the most lacking thing at present is workers with these production experience and excellent technical capabilities.

In order to attract these excellent technical workers, Spain has offered very generous conditions. For example, these skilled workers and their families are provided with free housing for three years, new jobs with higher income than their original jobs, and medical and educational conditions for their families.

Such conditions are attractive in normal times, not to mention when all countries are mired in the economic crisis.

Faced with Spain's high-profile policy of attracting talents, the most uncomfortable country may be Spain's neighbor Portugal.

Because talents from other countries also have to consider the issue of language communication, the Portuguese basically don't need to consider it. Portuguese and Spanish can be briefly communicated, and the Portuguese have no problem understanding Spanish.

These two languages ​​are more like dialects of two similar regions in later generations. There is a little difference, but it does not affect the communication and exchange between them.

Although Portugal was not greatly affected by the economic crisis, it depends on who it is compared with. Spain, except for imports and exports, was basically not affected by the economic crisis in other aspects.

On the contrary, due to various construction and great development in Spain, the number of unemployed people has not only become smaller and smaller, but there are also many jobs with not low incomes that are in urgent need of experienced employees.

In 1873 alone, the total population attracted by Spain from Portugal was close to 10,000. In addition to a small number of scientific research talents and senior engineers, the other several thousand people are workers and other talents with certain technical capabilities.

As long as the economic crisis continues, the situation of Spain absorbing population from Portugal will not change. This is of course a good thing for Spain, but it is not so good for Portugal.

However, the Portuguese government has no way to solve it for the time being. After all, although Spain's actions are suspected of adding insult to injury, they have not violated the laws of any country.

Of course, in this era, no country can be bound by law. Only strong strength can do it, and all other treaties and decrees are just empty talk.

Last year, Spain did not spend much money on attracting talents and purchasing foreign companies, only 130.6 million pesetas.

Of course, the main reason for this is that the economic crisis broke out in the middle of the year, and the time actually used to purchase companies and attract talents was less than half a year.

This also means that 1874 will be an extremely important year. This is the second year after the economic crisis, and it is also a complete year. The government must complete the enterprise purchase plan formulated last year this year and absorb enough technical talents, senior engineers and scientific researchers.

If another year passes, countries will have a certain degree of control over the economic crisis, and it will not be so easy to buy companies or attract talents.

That is why the so-called foreign action budget this year is as high as 270 million pesetas. If it is added with last year's budget, the total cost of buying companies and attracting talents will exceed 400 million pesetas, of which the cost of buying companies is about 300 million pesetas, and the cost of attracting talents is about 100 million pesetas, which is not much different from the previous estimate.

Then there is the repair of technical talents and the efforts to attract relevant scientific research talents. Because of the uncertainty of talent vacancies and the possibility that other countries may issue decrees to prevent talent attraction actions like Spain, there is no specific budget for this action, and everything must be judged according to the situation at the time.

Even if the 270 million foreign action budget is deducted, the Spanish government's total fiscal budget this year is still as high as 727.2 million pesetas.

Because of the large expansion of the army, Spain's military expenditure is still the largest part of fiscal expenditure. In 1874, the fiscal budget of the Spanish Ministry of Defense was as high as 197.3 million pesetas, accounting for 27.1% of the total fiscal budget.

The second is investment in industrial construction. Even if the cost of purchasing enterprises and absorbing talents is not counted, the budget of the industrial sector is still as high as 145.7 million pesetas, which is exactly one-fifth of fiscal expenditure.

As a newly established cabinet department, the transportation department ranks third among all cabinet departments in terms of fiscal budget, with a total budget of nearly 130 million pesetas.

After all, more than 3,500 kilometers of railways and a large number of roads are to be built, and other departments have no objection to giving the transportation department such a large financial budget.

Just building 3,500 kilometers of railways is enough to give people a headache, not to mention that the transportation department is also responsible for the construction of roads, the construction of railway stations, the deployment of train routes, the transportation of materials, etc.

For a newly established department, the first year of its establishment will face quite severe tests. But if these tests are completed, the credit that the transportation department can get is definitely one of the most among the cabinet departments.

The people's livelihood department, public security department, education department, medical department and agricultural department in the future also have their own financial budgets, and the total scale is definitely much larger than in previous years.

The diplomatic department is relatively independent and has a lot of financial budgets. After all, the diplomatic department needs to maintain diplomatic embassies stationed in various countries, and conduct some diplomatic activities, etc., and insufficient funds will face great problems.

Such a huge financial budget must have been reported to Carlo by Prime Minister Primo. Considering that the temple treasure did bring a lot of confidence to the government, Carlo agreed to the financial budget report.

After all, with the temple treasure, the Spanish government can at least issue billions of pesetas. Although the fiscal expenditure of nearly 900 million pesetas seems exaggerated, the Currency Issuance Committee has previously had plans to increase the issuance of pesetas.

This seemingly exaggerated fiscal expenditure is actually just to popularize these additional pesetas in the market in a reasonable way.

However, Carlo did not do nothing. Under Carlo's suggestion, Prime Minister Primo appropriately increased the fiscal budget for the education department to help the education department better popularize literacy education and promote higher-level education.

Before Carlo took the throne, Spain's illiteracy rate was as high as 70%, which was a similar situation with Italy.

After five years of development, Spain's illiteracy rate has also been effectively reduced. According to statistics from the Spanish government, in the past five years, the number of people in Spain who have received literacy education has reached nearly 4 million, with an average of more than 800,000 people receiving literacy education from the government every year.

Especially after Carlo decided to provide a free lunch to all those who received literacy education, more people participated in literacy education. At present, the illiteracy rate in Spain has dropped to below 45%. It took only five years to achieve such an achievement, and the credit of the education department is indeed not small.

But the illiteracy rate of 45% still cannot meet Carlo's expectations. The reason why Carlo asked Prime Minister Primo to increase the financial budget of the education department is precisely to completely reduce the illiteracy rate in Spain to below 20% when the second five-year plan is completed.

You know, there are also many elderly and disabled people in Spain who are not suitable for education. Considering the existence of these people, the illiteracy rate of 20% is actually a very low level.

On this basis, vigorously develop middle and high school education, and issue a series of policies to reduce higher education tuition and miscellaneous fees. This is an effective way to cultivate local talents for Spain.

Talking about the issue of cultivating college students before the illiteracy rate has been completely reduced is actually not a fundamental solution.

After all, the premise of having enough college students is to have enough high school students. The premise of having enough high school students is to have enough middle school students.

This is also the importance of laying a good foundation. Only after building a good primary education can we seek higher-level middle school and high school education.

Only after building a good middle school and high school education can we seek more college students. If the goal is only set on the development of universities and the cultivation of college students, Spain's education will ultimately be a castle in the air.

After all, under the premise that most people are illiterate, how can we ensure that Spain can cultivate enough outstanding college students every year?

Not long after the fiscal budget was passed by the House of Representatives, the new Spanish Minister of Education, Gerard Wilson, personally asked to meet Carlo and reported the specific development goals of the education department on the five-year development plan.

Reporting the current situation and plans of the Ministry of Education to Carlo was a decision made by Education Minister Gerard Wilson after thinking for a long time.

Gerard Wilson is actually a member of the Liberal Party. He became the Minister of Education under Prime Minister Primo because of his rich experience in education and some of his ideas on education reform.

Originally, Gerard Wilson only wanted to do a good job in his own education reform in the Ministry of Education, but after learning that part of the credit for the high budget of the Ministry of Education came from Carlo's request, he knew that he could not remain indifferent.

After all, Carlo is the King of Spain. Even Prime Minister Primo has to maintain enough respect, let alone a newly promoted Minister of Education.

"Your Majesty." When asking for an audience with Carlo, Gerard Wilson put his posture very low, without the airs of a cabinet member.

"Minister Gerard, I am very happy to see you become the Minister of Education. I believe that under your leadership, the education department will achieve greater success." Carlo nodded calmly and motioned Gerard Wilson to sit on the sofa beside him.

The biggest reason why the previous Minister of Education was not re-elected in the second cabinet government was that he had no outstanding achievements in education.

Gerard Wilson, a non-Progressive Party member who advocates education reform, can become a cabinet minister, which also proves that Prime Minister Primo attaches great importance to education reform.

After all, Spain's existing education system is still too old and obviously not suitable for the new education of European powers.

Even many countries have popularized compulsory education, and Spain has not even completely reduced its illiteracy rate, which is why Prime Minister Primo is anxious.

"Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty. I will definitely summarize the shortcomings of the education department of the previous government, create a better educational environment for all Spaniards, and change the current educational situation in Spain." Gerard Wilson was not overly modest, because sometimes modesty is not a good thing.

Carlo nodded and began his own test: "Minister Gerard, does the education department have any new ideas about the direction and focus of future education reform?"

Gerald Wilson did not rush to answer Carlo's question after hearing it, but thought carefully for a while, organized his words in his mind, and then respectfully replied: "Your Majesty, I think it is very necessary for Spain to carry out education reform.

I have been investigating in Germany for a period of time. The Germans attach great importance to education, which is unmatched by any other country. The Germans' formal law on compulsory education originated from the "Rural Education Regulations" promulgated by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1763, but their compulsory education actually started a hundred years earlier.

I think the reason why the Germans defeated the Austrians and the French one after another is that In addition to their powerful army and excellent military technology, another major reason is that they promoted the popularization of compulsory education early on.

The illiteracy rate in the entire German region is the lowest in all European regions, which shows the importance that Germans attach to education.

So I think that education is absolutely an indispensable part of Spain's development. Even if we cannot formulate a compulsory education system like Germany, we must enact some policies to reduce the burden of education on the people.

Only when more and more people receive education can more and more talents be cultivated. The improvement that talents bring to the country and society is obvious. The talents brought by education will make the country stronger and stronger, which is incomparable to absorbing talents from foreign countries.

This is in line with the direction of Spain's education reform. I I think the primary goal should be placed on basic education and technical education.

In terms of basic education, I think basic compulsory education should be fully popularized throughout the country to ensure that all Spaniards can receive about 2 years of basic education, and reduce the illiteracy rate in Spain from the root.

The basic education time of about 2 years is only temporary. When the government's fiscal budget is sufficient in the future, I think the basic education time should be increased to the entire primary school stage, which is about 6 years.

Only by ensuring that all Spaniards have completed about six years of primary education can our education reform be considered to have achieved initial success and have visible results.

The second is about technical education. Technical education is mainly aimed at our adults, and its purpose is to cultivate enough people for Spain. Technical talents.

It takes a long time to train a talent from an infant, but our country is now short of a large number of technical talents.

In response to this problem, I think it is necessary to build more technical schools to help more ordinary workers receive technical training and let them grow into technical workers.

This will not only solve the problem of our technical talent shortage, but also effectively increase the wages and income of these people.

In response to the problem of high-level technical talent shortage, I think we can also implement a dual-track education system to train our outstanding technical talents from an early age.

The idea of ​​the dual-track education system is as follows:

In the more conventional track, students can complete regular education from elementary school to middle school, high school and then to university, and the college students finally trained are the high-level talents we lack.

After completing basic education or primary education, the other track can choose to carry out basic technical education and advanced technical education, and finally cultivate the high-level technical talents we lack.

In order to provide more opportunities for these technical talents, students who are currently receiving basic technical education and advanced technical education can also enter high school or university through examinations and eventually return to the first-track education system.

Your Majesty, this is the direction of Spanish education reform that I have conceived, as well as some key points of Spain's future education reform. "Gerald Wilson explained his goals and plans for education reform to Carlo with a respectful but confident look.

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