So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doing a good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....
This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,[10] dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.
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