Publisher's Synopsis
No work accomplished since the American occupation is of more fundamental and far-reaching importance than that of the Bureau of Education. In order to appreciate it one must gain some familiarity with the conditions which prevailed in Spanish times. The first evidence of the Spanish governmental attitude toward education in the Philippines is found in a royal edict of March 21, 1634,1 in which Felipe IV orders all archbishops and bishops to take steps for the education of the Filipinos in the Spanish language and in Christian doctrine. That this decree was more honoured in the breach than in the observance is evident from another royal decree of June 20, 1686,2 in which the king reminds civil and religious authorities that the non-observance of the decree of 1634 will be charged against them. Neither of these documents provided for financing the scheme of education ordained, but a decree of December 22, 1792,3 did make financial provision for the establishment of Spanish schools for natives. The salaries of teachers were to be paid from the royal treasury, and deficits were to be made up from the communal properties and treasuries. Although this was the first practical attempt to introduce general native education, there are evidences that individual opportunities were offered to, and embraced by, Filipinos. It is probable, too, that in certain [502]localities the most generous of the Spaniards opened private schools.
