Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 353: Chapter 199: Compulsory Education and Three Meals a Day (Part 2)

For certain extremely impoverished families, the education department is considering distributing a certain amount of grants in elementary schools to ensure that youths from these families can at least complete elementary education.

Considering the government’s finances, the grants will only be available in elementary schools, while scholarships will be provided from elementary through secondary, high school, and university as a reward for academically outstanding students," explained Minister of Education Gerard Wilson clearly about his plan.

Carlo nodded and continued to ask, "This plan sounds good, but there are currently several challenges. Has the educational department considered the funding issue? If elementary education were to be made universally compulsory nationwide, wouldn’t the education department’s budget multiply several times?

Can our finances support such a massive educational expenditure? Compulsory elementary education requires at least six years to deliver results, but we need to maintain very high education costs during this period.

If these issues cannot be resolved, I’m afraid Duke Serrano and Earl Canovas will not easily agree to this plan."

Duke Serrano and Earl Canovas’s identity with the Conservative Party is not just in name; they are undoubtedly more conservative compared to Prime Minister Prim.

Minister Gerard Wilson’s plan for developing compulsory elementary education is indeed beneficial for Spain, but any results will take at least six years.

Moreover, Spain’s current finances are not very affluent, and each department requires a substantial financial budget, making it evidently difficult for the education department to get the biggest slice of the pie.

After all, Duke Serrano as Prime Minister and Earl Canovas as Deputy Prime Minister both hold other cabinet minister positions; they also have to consider the development of other departments.

The education department taking a larger share of the budget means that other departments will have much less. The education department certainly stands to gain considerable credit from this plan, but whether other departments are willing to sacrifice their interests to assist the education department is uncertain.

Upon hearing Carlo’s question, Gerard Wilson understood that this was his only chance to persuade Carlo. After contemplating seriously, he spoke: "

If we configure all our school constructions to the lowest tier, we can effectively reduce our initial expenditure in spreading compulsory elementary education.

The rollout of compulsory education doesn’t need to be nationwide simultaneously; we can select one or two major regions as pilot areas to reduce our initial consumption.

If possible, I think Madrid and Catalonia can be considered as pilot regions for compulsory education. According to the education department’s estimates, we need to build only 200 elementary schools in these two regions to consider starting the spread of compulsory education. freewebnovёl.ƈom

If the pilot is implemented only in these two regions, based on our calculations, the additional education budget can be kept under 15 million Pesseta annually.

Even if implemented nationwide, the additional expenditure brought by compulsory education will not exceed 60 million Pesseta. If we can hold out for six years, Spain, six years from now, will be entirely different from today.

Your Majesty, we only need 15 million Pesseta; the education department is confident to comprehensively promote the spread of compulsory education in Madrid and Catalonia as pilot areas, setting an example for the spread of compulsory education in other regions.

If we can cultivate enough elementary school students, we will have enough middle school students. Only by cultivating enough middle school students will we have enough high school and university students.

Now is our best opportunity, Your Majesty, the education department has the confidence to complete this plan and provide you with a perfect answer six years later," Gerard Wilson’s words were sincere; he was very confident in the primary education development plan set by the education department.

This will not only be a great achievement for the education department but also an important step for Spain in transitioning from a weak educational nation to a strong one.

Carlo remained expressionless but was very satisfied with this Minister of Education internally. In Carlo’s view, this compulsory education development plan, though not flawless, fits well with Spain’s current situation.

By implementing this educational plan, Spain will gradually close the gap in education with other major powers in the future.

The importance of education needs no further explanation. Education can bring about a wealth of local talent, and with talent, scientific and industrial developments can advance.

The biggest problem Spain currently faces is a lack of talent, especially local talent. Education can undoubtedly remedy this deficiency, although it will take a very long time to see results, but currently, Spain has no shortage of time.

For Spain, several crucial wars are nothing more than the Spanish-American War at the end of the century and the two World Wars that affected the entire world.

Even the Spanish-American War is more than 20 years away from its historical outbreak. Although the development of the world’s situation is not exactly the same as in history, Spain is also not short of these few years. freёwebnovel.com

Moreover, the current Spain in the world is stronger than the historic Spain. Spain’s decline ceased after the revolution broke out, and its industry, economy, and comprehensive national strength have instead turned negative to positive, entering positive growth.

In this situation, the United States may not have the confidence to win against the current Spain. Furthermore, the Spanish-American War is over 20 years later; in 20 years, Carlo is confident that Spain will grow into a strong nation comparable to the five traditional European powers, and naturally, there will be no need to fear the United States at that time.