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,