An Observer in the Near East

by William Le Queux

Thus it will be seen that the country is undoubtedly entering upon an era of prosperity.

By the Department of Public Instruction I was afforded facilities for studying the educational system, and a few facts may prove interesting. Though Servia has been a free country for less than a century, education has already reached a very high level. It possesses a large number of primary schools, secondary schools, and special schools, as well as a high school in Belgrade which has lately been turned into a university.

The name “popular schools” is given to infant schools, primary schools, and the superior primary schools. The course in the primary schools lasts for six years, and in the primary superior schools two years. Children in towns are sent into the first class of primary schools at the age of six, and in the country at seven, the school year commencing on September 1 and ending on June 29.

Schoolmasters on leaving the training college receive 800 dinars (francs) per annum, and rise to 3000 dinars. Beyond this they receive an allowance of 30 to 80 dinars a month in lieu of lodging. For 1905 I was unfortunately unable to obtain the statistics, but I found that in 1904 there were in Servia 1093 schools for boys and 170 schools for girls, or 1263 primary schools. There were 1349 masters and 856 mistresses, or a total of 2205 teachers. At the end of that scholastic year there were 85,365 boys studying and 22,081 girls, a total of 107,446 scholars. There were also five normal schools with 25 masters, and six schools for young girls with 25 mistresses. There are also several excellent private schools. One Protestant and one Catholic are in Belgrade, while of the three private schools for girls two are in Belgrade and one in Nisch.

As regards secondary schools, the course lasts eight years and is terminable by examination. When the high school, or university course, is ended, the students intending to become masters receive a supernumerary place in a secondary school with a salary of 1500 dinars. After about two years they pass the examination of professors, whereupon they receive 2500 dinars, which is raised periodically to 6000 dinars. The time-limit for professors is thirty years. In the secondary schools are masters of languages and fine arts, and a very high standard of instruction is given. The last return showed there were 4561 scholars and 313 masters in these schools. These figures, however, do not comprise the private gymnasiums of Alexinac and Gradiste, or the superior schools for young girls at Belgrade and Kragooyevac.

The special schools comprise the religious seminary, the academy of commerce, and the schools of agriculture. The religious seminary is at Belgrade, and the course of instruction lasts nine years. There are two schools of male teachers, one at Alexinac and the other at Yagodina, and also two schools for female teachers, at Belgrade and at Kragooyevac. Here, the course is for four years. The Academy of Commerce is in Belgrade, where a course of three years is given. There is an excellent School of Agriculture at Kralyevo, as well as a School of Forestry and Viticulture at Bukovo, where a three years’ course is given.

The University, which is at Belgrade, has only recently been established, for hitherto it was only a high school. The instruction is of the very highest order, and without doubt it will turn out many intellectual men in the near future.

One afternoon I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have audience of M. Nicholas Pachitch, the President of the Council of Ministers and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Office is a great comfortable old building adjoining the gardens of the royal palace, painted dead white, and commanding from its windows a beautiful view over the Save and the rolling plains beyond. The ante-chamber is a sombre, old-fashioned room, with heavy furniture, several fine pictures, and polished floor. But I was not given long to inspect it, for a few minutes later I was ushered into the private room of the man whom all Servia regards as the greatest and cleverest politician—the man who is to make the New Servia.

I found him a quiet-mannered man, with kindly smiling eyes behind his spectacles, his long beard and hair just silvered with grey, his voice low, soft, and deliberate.