EDUCATION IN JAVA.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 September 1919, Page 3

EDUCATION IN JAVA.

I A COMPLICATED SYSTEM. 9 « ———.. ‘ GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE; i NO OVERCROWDED CLASSES. | E. l Aii 3. time when tile. problems of eduleation are claiming wide nattention in I the Dominion, special interest attaches I to a description of the school system of i ’Java, given on Saturday by the Rexnl ‘M-other Fernando, of the Roman Ursuline Community. This is .21 Roman; Catholic educatioflal order, established some 300 years ago, which now has schools in almuost every part of th_e world. Mother,Fcrnandc has taught under its auspices in Anlcl'ioa., Cuba, England, pra.ctical'ly every European, , country, and Java, and is now on her ' i way back to America. after in live years’ . |sojourn in Batavia, the chief city of ‘ Java. The Ursuline schools have been ‘ established in Java. for 65 years, and: play a very important part in the edu- ‘ cation system there. i ‘ A.ll the schools in Java, l\-lother Fernando explained, are State schools. I Education is compulsory from the age of six years, but not free in the sense that it is in New Zealand. In evel'y grade of school the pupils pay according to their parents’ position «and in-. come, the maximum charge at tlle primary schools being about 10/ a month. There are-three or four, or even more, classes of schools in each grade. There are the first-class p1‘iI11I{1»1‘_V schools for for the well-to—do Europeans and Eurasians, second class for the poorer people, third-class for others, and, in ' addition, native schools, Chinese schools, Hindoo schools, and now the Turks and Armenians are clamouring for their own schools, too! The same classification obtains in the secondary schools also. Java has as yet no uni- ’ versity, although there is now «a move in the direction of establishing one. It was explained that there is no educational grant fnom which all the needs of the country have to be met for a certain period. There is such close co-ordinuation Between the Government and the education system that all needs are met immediately they arise. There are no Education Boards; all State schools are erected by a Government Department, and a liberal subsidy is paid for the eréiction; of every other school, private or denominational com. plionce with state regulations being icompulsory. All fcacliers are similarly isubsidised; in the secondary scho-ols the instructors are paid by the hour or so many “periods” a week, and are at liberty to teach in -other schools also, so tlnat. one teacher mi_9;ht be «lrawing a - regular salary from two or three - schools. The schools have plenty of light and air with the utmost cleanliness and attention to lrvgzicnc. There is no overcrowdingz. The ideal-size class is 25; classes -of more than 4.0 pupils in any one room. or under any one teacher, are proliibitrd l)j«' law: even in a room with 40 pupils therevsould

pl~obabl_\_~' be room for 20 more, but it \\'ouldn’t be allowed. There are Spill.cious playgrounds, asphalt and grass, in very school, and two half-hour periods are allowed during the day. The curriculum is very full in the; primary schools: it includes modern languages, and before a pupil can enter the secondary school he or she must have passed an examination in French and English as Well as Dutch. - In one important. respect the State worthily supports the product of its education fegime. ‘Every ‘V,eertifiea:‘te gained, either at the primary or secondary schools, carries us. certain salary when the pupil goes to work. For even those who’ have not completed the primary e'o‘urse, there are ‘i‘lli*ttl‘e official exa.min{a-tions,” the passing of which entitles the pupil to a, minimum salary in «any employ-m-enlt. 3