Empire Rising: Spain

”At present, I personally agree with this development plan.” A smile finally appeared on Carlo’s face, expressing his approval of the compulsory education development plan devised by the education department, and he said, ”Education is a crucial part of Spain’s development, and it is necessary to emphasize it.

Minister Gerard, you can present this plan at the next cabinet meeting. I will inform Duke Serrano and Earl Canovas to have the government support this plan.”

Upon hearing Carlo’s promise, Minister Gerard Wilson finally breathed a sigh of relief and said excitedly, ”As you command, Your Majesty.”

A few days later, at the cabinet meeting, Minister Gerard Wilson, following Carlo’s instructions, presented the primary education compulsory development plan for the cabinet discussion.

Due to Carlo’s instructions, Earl Canovas expressed agreement, while Duke Serrano did not express any opinion.

However, the cabinet ministers all knew that Earl Canovas’s Deputy Prime Minister was actually the main person in charge of the cabinet government. Although Duke Serrano was the Prime Minister, he played more of a symbolic and stabilizing role and would not overly interfere with the development of various departments.

After Earl Canovas expressed agreement, the other cabinet ministers were not foolish either and unanimously expressed their approval.

However, despite the agreement, certain details of the development plan were modified to some extent.

For instance, the plan originally intended to build at least a thousand primary schools across Spain to meet the needs of universal primary compulsory education.

After discussion among the cabinet ministers, the construction of new primary schools was changed to make use of existing buildings as much as possible, such as the properties in the hands of rebellious nobles and officials, and capitalists.

Some of these properties were located in the city, large in scale and of low value. Although abandoned for some time, the overall structures could still be utilized.

With some renovations, these abandoned properties could be transformed into new schools.

Since compulsory free primary education is being promoted, the schools don’t need brand-new buildings; even remodelled secondhand properties could work perfectly well.

Of course, if the buildings themselves were extremely unsafe, they naturally could not be transformed and used as schools.

Those that could be transformed and utilized must be inspected and confirmed as sufficiently sturdy. Whether comfortable or not is another matter, they must be solid enough to ensure the safety of teachers and students.

Just in terms of schools alone, for every 100 fewer schools built, a significant portion of the education budget could be saved. This saved budget could be invested in other areas to better promote the development of compulsory education.

Besides saving money on schools, savings could also be made on textbooks and books. Primary education does not involve overly complex knowledge; the main focus is on teaching the Spanish language and basic mathematics.

Under such circumstances, it is totally feasible to abandon the method of providing every student with a textbook and instead have several students share one textbook.

Even ensuring that the teacher has one textbook would enable the course to be taught. The knowledge taught in primary school is generally not difficult, and given the reason that there are only two main subjects, there is plenty of time to teach all the students these simple concepts.

The costs saved from school construction and textbooks can be directed towards other expenses, such as teachers’ salaries and meals provided to the students.

Compulsory education does not necessarily need to provide students with three meals a day. However, given the current income level of Spain’s populace, if these students are not provided with three meals, many would refuse to enroll, choosing instead to send their children to factories to earn money.

While this choice for the sake of the family’s survival is understandable, if it is possible to save some of this population, it would naturally be better.

For this reason, upon seeing the plan, Carlo considered providing three meals a day to the students in compulsory education in an official capacity.

Of course, these so-called three meals a day wouldn’t be extravagant, only ensuring that the growing students are well-fed and not left hungry.

With significant savings from school construction and textbook expenses, it is indeed feasible to provide three meals a day to these students, ensuring that children from poor families have ample opportunities for education instead of spending their lives like slaves in dim factories.

In this regard, Carlo thought more deeply. If three meals a day are provided in the name of the government, the Royal Family wouldn’t gain much fame.

But if provided in the name of the Royal Family, these children would naturally be grateful to the Royal Family, and their parents would also be thankful to them.

Of course, to gain such fame, the Royal Family couldn’t possibly pay nothing. Thus, in the cabinet meeting, Carlo proposed that the Royal Family would bear part of the costs incurred from providing three meals a day to students.

Doing so would alleviate some of the government’s expenditure, and the officials would naturally be pleased. Carlo also put forward his requirement that the three meals a day must be offered in the name of the Royal Family.

With the agreement of Duke Serrano and Earl Canovas, the proposal was swiftly passed by vote among the cabinet ministers.

The Royal Family would cover the costs of breakfast and lunch for the students while the government would fund the dinner costs. Of course, these free meals provided to students would be offered in the name of the Royal Family, and they would be available every day during school time.

Since it is provided to all students, the meals couldn’t possibly be too luxurious. However, Carlo had relevant minimum requirements, which stated that students should have at least one meat meal a week, given they are in the phase of growing physically.