Primary Education owes its present state of development to that master Patriot, Pedagogue and President of the Republic, Domingo F. Sarmiento, who as a personal friend and student of the noted American Educator had every opportunity to introduce the best that he considered practicable into the educational system of Argentina.
The education of youth of Argentina is the concern of state authorities who work in harmony with the educational bodies of its cities, towns and villages. The exception to it consists in the control of the Primary schools of the Federal city of Buenos Aires by the National Board of Education, together with some other exceptions to be mentioned later on.
One of the more recent and far-reaching developments of this Federal control is the fact, that in some of the provinces (States) Primary schools are established and subsidized by the Federal Government, where local conditions are equal to the needs of popular education.
Argentina maintains therefore in some of the provinces the regular State controlled as well as Federal Government controlled Primary schools; likewise are many of the Special type schools controlled by the National Government.
In 1894 there were 3000 Primary schools, Public and Private, which increased during the next twenty years to 7877 schools; likewise did the teaching force of these schools grow from 7800 to over 26,000 teachers. The pupils attending these Primary schools in 1894 numbered 280,000, whereas in 1914 the attendance increased to 890,000 pupils. The expenditures incurred for the maintenance of these schools show an even more remarkable increase of service and efficiency. The total expenses for Primary Education in 1894 were 9,370,000 pesos; in 1914 the expenditures rose to a figure, six times that of 1894, 56,635,000 pesos.
In 1894 the Normal schools, 35 in number, had an enrollment of 1376 pupils, preparing themselves for the teaching career in Primary schools; in the year of 1914 the number of Normal schools increased to over 70 in number and the enrollment to 8970 students, more than six times of its enrollment twenty years ago. During this same period the expenditures in this particular department of public education rose from 2,000,000 pesos to that of 10,000,000 pesos.
SECONDARY EDUCATION
The Secondary schools are responding also to the modern demands of a democratic conception of education. From mere preparatory institutions for the Universities they are fast becoming schools of advanced education to an increasing number of men and women.
In 1894 the students of Secondary schools numbered 3000, which number rose to 10,000 in 1914, the expenditures having increased from 1,000,000 pesos to nearly 6,000,000 pesos in the year of 1914.
TECHNICAL EDUCATION