The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 46, 1721-1739 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Unknown

ROYAL DECREE ESTABLISHING A PLAN OF PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN FILIPINAS

Exposition

Madam:

The constant desire and permanent rule of conduct of the august predecessors of your Majesty have ever been to introduce into the territories under your glorious crown across seas, the light of evangelical truth, and with it the principles of a civilization suitable for their respective necessities. The governments and their delegated authorities, with the powerful aid of the missionaries, and of the clergy in general, both secular and regular, have tried to accommodate their policy in regard to the Philippine Archipelago to these principles. But the extent of so vast a territory, the character and customs of a portion of its population, and the lack of an organized system of primary instruction, have been the reason why the knowledge of the Castilian language, and in consequence of the ignorance of that language, the propagation of the most elementary ideas of education remain in a remarkable condition of imperfection and backwardness. It is unnecessary to explain the evils that such a condition occasions to the natives in the casualties of social life, in their relations to the public authority, in the exercise of those relations which are confided partly to the said natives, in the onward march and progress, in fine, of that country so fertile in the sources of wealth. It is reserved for your Majesty to bring to this condition of affairs the remedy suitable for it, which for some time the superior authorities of Filipinas have been demanding, and in regard to whose urgent application the royal commissary, appointed to study the administration of said islands, has lately called the attention of the government. For this object is directed the subjoined project of a decree and the regulations which accompany it. They have been formed by the aid of the documents submitted by said functionaries. They agree in spirit, in tendency, and even in the prime basis of the solutions which they propose. Said project setting forth from the necessity of broadening as much as possible the teaching of the holy Catholic faith, of the language of the fatherland, and of the elementary knowledge of life, of creating capable teachers for that purpose, the lack of whom is the principal cause of the above situation, and that the basis of all education is the solid diffusion of our holy religion, establishes by means of its ministers a normal school under the care of the fathers of the Society of Jesus, whose pupils will have the right and express obligation of filling the position of teachers in the schools for the natives with pay, advantages, and rights during the exercise of that duty, and later after its honorable discharge, and who shall be capable of attracting the youth of the country to this now humble class [of employes]. It provides the means for joining teachers of both sexes until they graduate as teachers from that institution, and until a normal school for women teachers respectively is organized. It creates in all the villages of the archipelago schools for elementary primary instruction of boys and girls, with the obligation of attendance on the part of such, and with Sunday classes for adults.[11] It confers on the parish priests the immediate inspection of said schools, with powers suitable to make that inspection effective, and the exclusive direction of the teaching of the Christian doctrine and ethics is vested in the prelates. And as a complement to the system which it establishes, it demands for the future, although after the expiration of a suitable time, the knowledge of the Spanish language as a necessary requisite for the exercise of public charges and duties, and for the enjoyment of certain privileges inherent thereto.

The application of all progress in a country presupposes pecuniary sacrifices, and although not excessive, some are contained in the establishment of the projected plan. Nevertheless, if the expense which is produced is divided among the different villages of the archipelago, and charged to their local funds, it is to be expected that it will neither be felt very sensibly nor will the general budget of the island be obliged for the moment to contribute an advance, certainly difficult today, when the calamities which have happened recently in one part of the Filipino territory have caused so considerable and extraordinary an expense to bear down upon it.

The minister whose signature is affixed, taking as his fundamental the above reasons, the Council of State having been consulted, and with the concurrence of that of the minister, has the honor of submitting for your Majesty’s approval the subjoined project of a decree. Madrid, December 20, 1863. Madam, at the royal feet of your Majesty,

José de la Concha

Royal decree

In view of the reasons which have been explained to me by my minister of the colonies, after having consulted with the Council of State and with the concurrence of the Council of the ministers, I therefore decree the following:

Article 1. A normal school for teachers of primary instruction is established in the city of Manila, in charge of and under the direction of the fathers of the Society of Jesus.

Said school shall have the organization prescribed by its regulations and the expenses caused therein shall be defrayed by the central treasury of ways and means.[12]

Art. 2. Spanish scholars, natives of the archipelago or of Europa, shall be admitted into said school under the conditions prescribed by the regulations. After the termination of the studies prescribed by the said regulations, such scholars shall obtain the title of teacher.

The pupils of the normal school, to the number and in the class designated by the regulations, shall receive a free education; and those who take advantage of such provision shall be obliged to exercise the duties of teacher in the native schools of the archipelago, for the space of ten years following their graduation from the institution.

Art. 3. In each one of the villages of those provinces, there shall be at least one school of primary instruction for males, and another for females, in which education shall be given to the native children and Chinese of both sexes.

The regulations shall determine the proportion of the increase in the number of schools for each village in proportion to its population.

In all the schools there shall be a Sunday class for adults.

Art. 4. The instruction given in said schools shall be free to the poor. Attendance on the part of the children shall be compulsory.

Art. 5. The schools for males shall consist of three classes; to wit: entrada [i.e., entrance]; ascenso [i.e., promotion, or intermediary]; and termino [i.e., final], of the second class, and termino of the first class. They shall be supplied with teachers graduating from the normal school in accordance with the qualification which they shall have obtained at the conclusion of their studies, their promotions depending upon their seniority and merit combined.

The schools of termino of the first class, namely, those of Manila and its district, shall be supplied with teachers by competitive examination among the teachers, with the certificate from the normal school, with experience as teachers.

Art. 6. Classification of the schools, in accordance with the preceding article, shall be made by the superior civil governor,[13] after consultation with the superior commission of primary instruction, and after the report of the chief of the province. Once the respective classification is fixed it can be changed only in the same manner.

Art. 7. The teachers shall enjoy the salary and other privileges prescribed by the regulations.[14] Said salary, as well as the foundation of the school, acquisition, and conservation of school supplies and equipment, and the rent of the building where there shall be no public building, shall constitute an obligatory expense on the respective local budget.

Art. 8. In the villages where the superior civil governor so decrees, as its small population so allows, the teachers shall fulfil the duties of secretaries[15] to the gobernadorcillos, enjoying for such duties [concepto] an additional pay proportioned to the local resources.

Art. 9. The teachers appointed from the normal school cannot be discharged except for legitimate cause and by resolution of the superior civil governor, after a governmental measure drawn up with the formality set forth in article 6, and after hearing the interested party.

Art. 10. Examinations shall be held in the normal school at periodic times, and in the manner determined by the regulations, in order to choose a person with the title of assistant teacher. Those who obtain such certificates shall manage the schools for the natives in the absence of teachers, and shall in all cases exercise the duties belonging to their class in the schools which are to have such assistants according to the regulations. Said assistants shall have the salary and perquisites prescribed by the regulations, the first being an obligatory expense on the local budget.

Art. 11. The mistresses of schools for native girls need the corresponding certificate for the exercise of their duties. Until a normal school for women teachers is established, that certificate shall be issued in the form prescribed with the fitness determined by the regulations. The salary and perquisites which they are to receive shall be fixed by the same regulations, the first being an obligatory expense on the local budget, as are the other expenses expressed in article 7 regarding the schools for males.

Art. 12. Teachers and assistants shall be exempt from the giving of personal services so long as they exercise their duties, and after ceasing to exercise them, if they have exercised them for fifteen years. After five years of duty, the teachers, and after ten, the assistants, shall enjoy distinction as principales.[16]

Art. 13. The teachers of both sexes and the assistants shall have the right, in case of disability for the discharge of their duties, of pension under the conditions prescribed by the regulations.

Art. 14. Teachers and assistants with certificates, who shall have exercised their duties suitably for ten and fifteen years respectively, shall be preferred in the provision of posts of the class of clerk, established by the decree of July 15 last, without the necessity of furnishing proofs of fitness, as well as in the provision of employments not subject to the abovesaid royal decree which are to be appointed by the superior civil governor,[17] and do not demand conditions of special fitness in which the above are lacking.

Art. 15. The superior inspection of primary education shall be exercised by the superior civil governor of the islands, with the aid of a commission which shall be established in the capital under the name of “Superior Commission of Primary Instruction.” Said commission shall be composed of the superior governor as president, of the right reverend archbishop of Manila, and of seven members of recognized ability appointed by the first named.[18] The chiefs of the provinces shall be provincial inspectors, and shall exercise their duties with the aid of a commission composed of the chief, of the diocesan prelate, and in the latter’s absence, of the parish priest of the chief city, and of the alcalde-mayor,[19] or administrator of revenues.[20]

The parish priests shall be the local inspectors ex-officio and shall direct the teaching of the Christian doctrine and morals under the direction of the right reverend prelates.

The regulations shall designate the powers of the commissions and above-cited inspectors.

Art. 16. After a school has been established in any village for fifteen years, no natives who cannot talk, read and write the Castilian language shall form a part of the principalía unless they enjoy that distinction by right of inheritance. After the school has been established for thirty years, only those who possess the above-mentioned condition shall enjoy exemption from the personal service tax, except in case of sickness.

Art. 17. Five years after the publication of this decree, no one who does not possess the above-mentioned qualification, proved before the chief of the province, can be appointed to salaried posts in the Philippine Archipelago.

Art. 18. The superior civil governor, the chiefs of the provinces, and the local authorities, shall have special care in promoting the fulfilment of the requirements of this decree, adopting or proposing, according to circumstances, the necessary measures for their complete fulfilment.

Art. 19. Decrees [cedulas] of petition and request shall be sent to the right reverend archbishop and the reverend bishops of the Philippine Archipelago, in order that they may arouse the zeal of the parish priests for the exact fulfilment of the duties vested in them by this decree, in what relates to the supervision of the teaching of the natives, and very specially to that of the holy Catholic faith and the Castilian language.

Art. 20. Special regulations shall detail minutely the organization of the normal school and of the schools of primary instruction for the natives.

Given at the palace, December 20, 1863. It is rubricated in the royal hand. The minister of the colonies,

José de la Concha

REGULATIONS FOR THE NORMAL SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS OF PRIMARY INSTRUCTION FOR THE NATIVES OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS[21]

Of the object of the normal school

Article 1. The object of the normal school is to serve as a seminary for religious, obedient, and instructed teachers, for the management of schools of primary instruction for the natives throughout the whole archipelago.

Art. 2. The scholars shall be resident, and subject to one and the same rule and discipline. For the present the number of day pupils fixed by the superior civil governor may be admitted, provided that their antecedents give hope that they can pursue their studies with advantage, and that their deportment corresponds to the good name of the institution.

Art. 3. In the same locality of the normal school, although with the fitting independence and separation, there shall be a school of primary instruction for non-resident boys, whose classes shall be managed, under the supervision of a teacher of the normal school, by the pupils of the same.

Of the branches and duration of the studies

Art. 4. Education in the normal school shall comprise the following branches:

1. Religion, morals, and sacred history.

2. Theory and practice of reading.

3. Theory and practice of writing.

4. An extensive knowledge of the Castilian language with exercises in analysis, composition, and orthography.

5. Arithmetic, to ratio and proportion, elevation to powers, and extraction of roots, inclusive, together with the decimal metric system with its equivalent of local weights and measures.

6. Principles of Spanish geography and history.

7. Idem of Geometry.

8. Common acquaintance with physical and natural sciences.

9. Ideas of practical agriculture with reference to the cultivation of the products of the country.

10. Rules of courtesy.

11. Lessons in vocal and organ music.

12. Elements of pedagogy.

Art. 5. During the sessions of the normal school, the teachers shall speak only the Castilian language, and the scholars shall hold their classes and other literary acts in the same language. They shall be strictly prohibited from expressing themselves in any other language, even in their daily recreations and common intercourse within the precincts of the institution.

Art. 6. The studies mentioned in article 4 shall run for three years, and during the six months of the last term [curso], the scholars shall have practical exercise in teaching, by teaching in the classes of the primary school annexed to the normal school, which is established by article 3.

Scholars shall not pass from one course to another without proving their efficiency in the general examinations, which shall be held at the end of each year.

During the first four years of the installation of the school the studies shall be completed in two years.

Art. 7. The scholars of the normal school who shall have completed the courses of their studies and shall have obtained by their good deportment, application and knowledge, the mark of excellent [sobresaliente] in the final examinations for the three consecutive years shall receive a teacher’s certificate, in which shall be expressed their creditable mark, and they shall be empowered to teach schools of ascenso. Those who shall not have obtained the mark of excellent, but that of good [bueno], or fair [regular] in the above-mentioned examinations, shall also receive a teacher’s certificate with their corresponding mark expressed therein and they shall be able to teach schools of entrada. Finally, those who shall have failed in said examinations, if after they shall have repeated the exercise, shall have merited approval, shall only receive certificates as assistant teachers.

Art. 8. If any one of the scholars of the normal school shall desire to continue his studies for another year, in order to perfect himself therein, he may do so, on condition of paying from his own funds his annual board, if he shall be a resident student, and if, in the judgment of the director of the institution, no inconvenience arises from his remaining in it.

Of the scholars of the normal school

Art. 9. The resident scholars of the normal school shall be divided into regular [de número] and supernumerary[22] resident pupils. Both those who aspire to the said classes and to the class of day scholars, so long as there shall be any of the latter, must have the following qualifications:

1. To be natives of the Spanish dominions.

2. To be fully sixteen years old, that requisite to be attested by certificate of baptism or any other equivalent public document.

3. To suffer from no contagious disease, and to enjoy sufficient health to fulfil the tasks suitable for the duties of teachers.

4. To have observed good deportment which shall be proved by certification of the chief of the province and the parish priest of the village of his birth or habitation.

5. To talk Castilian; to know the Christian doctrine and how to read and write well: proof of which shall be made in an examination held before the director and teacher of the school.

Art. 10. The regular resident scholars shall receive their education free, and shall pay nothing for their support, treatment, school equipment, and aid from the teaching force.[23]

Art. 11. The regular resident scholars shall be obliged to fulfil their duties for ten years as teachers in the schools of primary instruction for the natives, to which they shall be assigned by the superior civil government. In case of not fulfilling that obligation they shall be indebted to the state for the expenses incurred in their education and teaching. The same thing shall happen if they leave the normal school before the conclusion of their studies without legitimate cause and by their own will or that of their parents, or are expelled from it for lack of application, or bad conduct. The model for calculating the expenses caused by said scholars during a given period shall be the board paid during the same period by a resident supernumerary scholar.

Art. 12. Places as regular resident scholars shall be supplied by the superior civil government to natives of the provinces of the archipelago, in proportion to the respective census of the population. As the number of aspirants for the places of supernumerary resident scholars continues to increase, the class of regular resident scholars will continue to decrease, the reduction beginning with those belonging to the provinces nearest the capital. Said class shall be suppressed when it happens that there are among the supernumerary [resident] scholars enough teachers with whom to supply the schools of the archipelago. In any event, the regular [resident] scholar, who shall have entered the school, shall have the right to keep his place, and such place shall only be suppressed when his course shall have been ended.

Art. 13. The supernumerary resident scholars shall pay the institution eight pesos per month for their board, and their rank in the school and other things will be equal to that of the regular scholars.

Art. 14. Only those young men shall be admitted as day scholars who, besides possessing the requirements demanded from the resident scholars, shall live in Manila or in its neighborhood, under the charge of their parents or in charge of a guardian and under such conditions that it can be assumed that they will find in their domestic hearth examples of virtue and morality. Such class of scholars shall receive school equipment free, and if they are poor, their textbooks.

Of the director, teachers, and dependents of the normal school

Art. 15. The normal school shall be directed and governed by the fathers of the Society of Jesus. At the head of the same there shall be a director to whose authority shall be subordinate the teachers, scholars, and inferior employes, and such director shall have the duty of directing the education and teaching, presiding at the literary ceremonies, visiting the rooms, watching over order and domestic discipline, correcting those who infringe the rules, and expelling pupils in the cases and under the conditions expressed in the interior regulations of the school, and he shall inform the suitable authority of the extraordinary measures and determinations of a serious nature which he believes it necessary to take.

Art. 16. Under the director’s authority there shall be at least four teachers, one of whom must be at the same time spiritual prefect of the school, charged with directing the consciences of the scholars, with presiding at religious ceremonies, and with distributing the food of the divine word. Under his peculiar charge also shall be lessons in sacred history, morals, and religion. Another of the teachers shall fill the special post of prefect of customs, and his principal occupation will be to accompany the scholars and to have care of them in the ceremonies of the inner life of the institution. The other two teachers shall be occupied principally in the teaching of other matters.

Besides the director and teachers, the school shall have the brother coadjutors who shall be considered necessary. There shall also be one porter, and the other indispensable subordinates.

Art. 17. The salaries to be received by directors, professors, coadjutors, and subordinates, as well as the allowance for expenses of materials, shall be fixed by the superior civil governor by agreement with the right reverend archbishop of Manila, information of which shall be given to the government for its approval.

Of examinations

Art. 18. At the end of each month in each one of the classes of the normal school, there shall be a private examination in all the subjects studied during that period. A like exercise shall be held at the end of the first semester each year, in regard to the branches studied during that time. At the end of the course, a general examination shall be held. This exercise shall be public and in the presence of the authorities and persons of distinction in the capital, and shall be terminated with the announcement and distribution of prizes.

Of holidays and vacations

Art. 19. The holidays of the normal school shall be Sundays, feast days, Ash Wednesday, the day set aside for the commemoration of the faithful dead,[24] and also the saint’s days and birthday anniversaries of their Majesties and the prince of Asturias, and the saint’s day of the superior civil governor.

The shorter vacations shall extend from Christmas eve to Twelfth-night, during the three carnival days,[25] and from Holy Wednesday until Easter. During said vacations, the resident scholars shall remain in the institution.

The longer vacations shall last one and one-half months, and shall be during the time of the greatest heat. The resident scholars may pass to the bosom of their families for the period of the longer vacations.

The scholars may go once a month to the house of their parents or guardians.

Of rewards and punishments

Art. 20. The degree of excellence of the scholars shall be recompensed by honorable marks, which shall be kept in the book of the institution; and by annual prizes, whose solemn distribution shall take place at the termination of the public examinations.

Art. 21. Punishments shall be: public censure; deprivation from recreation and the walk; banishment and separation from the other scholars; and if these are not sufficient, the definitive punishment shall be expulsion from the school. Expulsion shall irremissibly take place because of any contagious disease, for notable laziness and lack of application, for serious lack of respect to the teachers, and for bad conduct or depraved morals.

Art. 22. As a reward shall also be the public reading of the marks of good deportment, application and progress; and as punishment the reading of the contrary marks. That shall be done monthly for that purpose, assembling in one place all the scholars with their teachers, in the presence of the director.

Of the interior regulations of the school

Art. 23. An interior regulation for the school shall be made, which shall specify the daily distribution of time on the part of the scholars, the order of their studies, and the division of classes, religious and literary exercises, conduct, food, and clothing, as well as the duties of the scholars respecting the teachers, and those of their parents and guardians in respect to the institution.

Of textbooks

Art. 24. The director of the normal school shall propose at the approval of the superior civil government, a list of books which can be used as textbooks by the scholars, to which the masters shall subject their explanation. Such list shall be revised according as is advised by circumstances.

The teachers shall give their lessons in the courses of which it is advisable for this system to make use, under the authority of the director.

Of special examinations to obtain certificates as assistant teacher

Art. 25. Examinations shall be held in the normal school every six months, to choose those who shall be given certificates as assistants. Those who present themselves at said examinations shall have the qualifications described in article 9, for those who aspire to enter the school. They shall be conversant with the matters prescribed in article 4; and their examinations shall be public and held before the director and teachers of the normal school.

Art. 26. There shall be no other mark in such examinations than those of passed or failed.

Of the issuance of teachers’ and assistant teachers’ certificates

Art. 27. The superior civil governor shall have the right to issue certificates as teacher and assistant at the proposal of the director of the normal school.

Art. 28. Certificates as teachers shall contain the mark which shall have been obtained and the class of schools for which such persons are qualified.

Madrid, December 20, 1863. Approved by her Majesty.[26]

Concha