Primary education is fundamental. Feng Yunshan is still satisfied with the achievements made by the Ministry of Education.

In the first year of the implementation of the Five-Year Plan, the "Regulations for the Revitalization of Basic Education" was enacted, which made it mandatory for all children over the age of eight to attend school free of charge, and in the fifth year of Taisheng, it was extended to all children over the age of seven to be enrolled free of charge, and compulsory education was fully implemented; In addition, the local government has introduced severe punishment measures for those who do not send them to school, not only the parents concerned are imprisoned and fined, but also the neighbors and village chiefs are also punished, and the township officials are also warned and punished.

However, this primary education is for the future in five or ten years, and although it is the most important, it does not produce immediate results. However, the most rapid and direct effect is secondary education, that is, the secondary school corresponding to the empire.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan motioned for Li Shanlan to continue.

However, Li Shanlan claimed that the matter of the secondary school was specifically responsible for the deputy minister next to him, Cheng Huancai, and asked him to report it. Feng Yunshan couldn't understand Li Shanlan's thoughts, it was nothing more than to show himself that he was not authoritarian, and he couldn't imagine that the great educators and translators in history who were dedicated to learning would begin to swim like a fish in water in the sea in just a few years after becoming such a high-ranking official as the Minister of Education, which cannot but be said to be a kind of sadness. It's nothing more than Cheng Huancai being his royal relative, strictly speaking, in fact, he really doesn't care much about this, neither because Cheng Huancai is the uncle of Queen Cheng Lingnan is deliberately suppressed, nor because he is the national abbot, he is deliberately promoted.

Cheng Huancai is just 70 years old this year, and ten years ago he returned to his hometown from the position of political envoy and governor of Jiangsu, and founded Yicang and Yixue in his hometown Jiangxi, and did a lot of good deeds for the people in his hometown. This is also the reason why Feng Yunshan re-appointed him as the vice minister of education, otherwise, a simple royal relative would just be a chief deacon or something.

It was the first time for Cheng Huancai to report in the court, but he was over the age and had no intention of making contributions, but he was valued by the emperor and did his best. At that moment, he said: "Your Majesty, the middle school is divided into two parts according to Your Majesty's decree. Some of them are ordinary secondary schools, which are specially designed to cultivate talents for higher education halls, and the content learned is relatively comprehensive, but all of them are not deep; The other part is the industrial secondary school, which specializes in cultivating craftsmen and artists for all walks of life, and the content of the learning is concentrated in this industry, involving a deeper level, and all are based on the principle of practicality, which can also be called industrial education. ”

"Ordinary secondary schools and industrial secondary schools each account for about half. Because it is no longer compulsory education, and the students in the secondary school are relatively old, the people in many places do not want their children to come to the school to study, thinking that it delays their livelihood and starting a family, therefore, in the past few years, the enrollment rate of this secondary school is not high, and there are even some students who have dropped out of school and gone home to farm after a few months and a half. In desperation, in the first two secondary schools, our Ministry of Education appealed to the Ministry of the Interior for help, promising that as long as they graduated from the secondary schools, they would be arranged to serve as local officials, and that they would not be charged tuition, so as to attract them to study through such conditions. With the completion of the first batch of secondary school students, the situation has changed significantly. The year before last, there were only 447 general secondary schools and industrial secondary schools in the country, while there were 125,430 primary schools for school-age children. Last year, the number of primary schools increased to 152,485, while the number of ordinary secondary schools and industrial secondary schools soared to 782, including 452 ordinary middle schools and 330 industrial middle schools. According to the plan this year, the number of primary schools will only increase by 6,320 to 131,750, but the number of ordinary secondary schools will increase by 138, and the number of industrial secondary schools will increase by 162, and the total number of secondary schools will reach 1,082, breaking through the 1,000 middle school mark. Cheng Huancai has a brilliant face, and he can contribute to Huaxia's education, which is what he is willing to do from the bottom of his heart, maybe he will be famous in history because of this matter in the future, thinking of this, he is excited.

Feng Yunshan couldn't help but be surprised by the rapid progress of the Ministry of Education. Primary education is better to say, after all, it is mandatory, and the size of the school can be large or small, and the teacher is also a random person who can read and write, not to mention the promulgation of standard teaching materials. But this secondary education is different, with the increase of disciplines, the age of students, all kinds of things must be formalized, the need for teachers has increased greatly, and the requirements for teachers have also been greatly enhanced, especially in the industrial secondary school, but also have internship factories and workshops, it is very difficult to run a school. It is not easy for the Ministry of Education to make such a big move in a short period of time.

Cheng Huancai seemed to see the emperor's surprise, and took the initiative to explain: "Nowadays, ordinary secondary schools and industrial secondary schools have begun to charge, but the source of students is still not worried. The first batch of graduates of the secondary school either entered the towns and villages to serve as local officials, or became engineers in factories in various industries, and were respected, so the people sent their children to the middle school, even if the school was charged, they were willing to enroll. In addition, the first batch of older and more outstanding students in the primary school began to graduate and enter the middle school to continue their studies, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of students in the middle school, and more than 16,700 people were crowded into one school, which was not at all what the school could bear. As a result, the Ministry of Education, together with the Ministry of Finance and Taxation, the Ministry of Public Works, and the Ministry of Agriculture, built new school buildings one after another in the past two years, recruited teachers, and quickly put into use a large number of schools, which was barely enough for the needs of the students of the Manchu secondary schools. However, this year and next year, there will be a large number of primary school students graduated, it seems, nearly half of them want to enter the middle school, but even if more school buildings are built, before the fall semester begins, the country's secondary school can only reach a maximum of 1,200, according to the maximum capacity of the secondary school capacity of 2,000 people, barely able to recruit 2.4 million students. There are also many adults who want to enter the industrial school in the middle school to learn skills, and want to learn to have a livelihood skill. ”

Feng Yunshan thought for a while and said: "Cheng Aiqing, adults don't let them enter the middle school to practice, most of them don't have any foundation, and they don't even know a few words, so go to the peasant training center and other night schools to learn more about braille." The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education should work together to run the peasant training centers in the countryside well, which can not be limited to agriculture and the like, but also open other technical disciplines, so that the farmers who are idle can have another livelihood to support their families. As for secondary schools, especially ordinary secondary schools, they should continue to increase and accelerate their development, and the same is true for industrial secondary schools. In the next five-year plan, the goal should be set a little higher, directly developing to 3,500 secondary schools, and striving to make one-fourth to one-third of the students in primary schools go on to secondary schools. In particular, the industrial secondary school should be vigorously developed, and this is the key to the strength of our Chinese empire. By the way, the normal schools in the secondary schools that are dedicated to sending teachers for the primary schools, as well as those that are specialized for women, must be free of charge. ”

"In addition, as I said at the beginning, businessmen and gentry, chambers of commerce, families, etc., who are interested in education, are allowed to donate their private private schools and academies, or are willing to transform them into schools, as long as they are approved by the education department of the local government and filed with your Ministry of Education, they can be open to the society and enroll students on the same level as other schools run by the imperial court, and, for encouragement, they can enjoy the subsidies of the imperial court finance and taxes and the rewards of the government."

Li Shanlan, Cheng Huancai and others hurriedly agreed.

Then, Li Shanlan continued to report on the matter of the higher education hall: "Your Majesty, there are currently a total of 75 higher education schools of various types in the country. Among them, there are 32 universities and 43 independent colleges. Among the universities, 22 are directly under the Ministry of Education, such as the Imperial University of China, the National Defense University of the Imperial Republic of China, the First Normal University of the Imperial Chinese Empire, and the University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, and the remaining 3 private universities and 7 provincial universities. In addition, there are the National Chinese Imperial Academy of Sinology, the Chinese Imperial Mining College, the Chinese Imperial Transportation College, the Chinese Imperial Architecture College, the Chinese Imperial Finance and Taxation College, the Chinese Imperial Ocean College, the Chinese Imperial Business College, the Chinese Imperial Textile College, the Chinese Imperial Railway College, the Chinese Imperial Post and Telecommunications College, the Chinese Imperial Mechanical College and the Chinese Imperial Naval Academy, etc. There are also 3 specialized comprehensive women's colleges. By the end of last year, there were 37,845 students in 75 colleges and universities. ”

Feng Yunshan sighed after hearing this, when he originally designed these junior high schools and higher schools, the entire education system was carried out with reference to the Republic of China period, so the students in the higher education halls were selected and selected for admission, rather than being flooded like later generations. In addition, among the people who are old enough to go to higher education, the literacy rate is really not high, and there are too few people who can be qualified for admission, resulting in all the higher education halls, the number of students in the country is just over 10,000. In the past two years, because the first two batches of students from the secondary school have graduated, some of them have passed the unified examination organized by the Ministry of Education and been admitted to the higher school, and there are only 37,845 students.

There's no way around it. When the higher education hall was first established, there was a serious shortage of professors in the school, many of whom were appointed by professors from various prefectures in the original Manchu Qing Dynasty, and some foreign technicians and graduates of the former Whampoa Military Academy were mixed in, so they were not able to teach many students at all. In the past two years, the Ministry of Education has suddenly compiled textbooks for various colleges and universities, which has allowed many students, but there is also a serious shortage of professors, and half of the time is dominated by self-study textbooks.

"Has the shortage of teachers in the higher education hall been solved?" Feng Yunshan asked.

Li Shanlan bowed down and replied: "Your Majesty asked, the shortage of teachers has been greatly alleviated. There has always been no shortage of teachers in Chinese studies, and the main lack in the early stage was in Western studies. Two years ago, a large number of Western instructors were hired from the West, and it was difficult to teach because of the language barrier, but now these Western instructors can speak Chinese and can teach smoothly. Moreover, for professors such as textile colleges, our Ministry of Education directly hires technicians and experts from textile factories to teach textile subjects, which effectively alleviates the problem of teacher shortage. In another two years, when the students trained in the academy graduate, we will continue to strengthen our studies with excellent results, and it will not take long to become a qualified teacher. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded, and praised the Ministry of Education's methods, and said: "The Ministry of Education has made great achievements in the establishment of schools at the three levels of junior high school and higher education, and I am very gratified!" Teachers are the foundation and foundation of the school, and we must ensure that the teachers of the school enjoy preferential treatment. Let me ask, what is the salary of the county magistrate of Jiangning County outside the Shengjing City now? ”