The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1011 - 759: Free Education - Middle School

Chapter 1011: Chapter 759: Free Education – Middle School

Britain and France and the World Alliance against Italy’s handling resumed a tug-of-war, to which Arthur was not surprised at all.

Because it is far away from Europe, Australasia rather enjoyed its sobriety. Moreover, the popular white supremacy policy among Australasians did not foster too much disgust for Italy’s massacres in the Abyssinian Empire.

This also gave Arthur a sigh of relief. After all, at this time, Arthur did not want to interfere in Italy’s war.

Although Italy was only a very weak enemy, once involved in this war, it meant participating in the chaotic European situation.

This would not only make Britain and France more wary, but also make the newly emerging forces view Australasia as an enemy.

Such obvious behavior of shifting blame to Britain and France was something Arthur would not do, unless public opinion really demanded it.

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In order to divert the attention of Australasians, Arthur started to work on the education policy in Australasia.

July 20, 1930, Palace of Nations, Saint Arthur Castle.

“Your Majesty, please look, this is the new education plan that our Ministry of Education has revised according to your instructions regarding the current free education policy, for your review,” Minister of Education Kailo Jefferson handed Arthur a thick set of documents and introduced it.

Arthur nodded, took the documents from Kailo Jefferson’s hands, and began to read them roughly.

Although it was only about the reform of the free education policy, the documents were far from a thin few pages.

Even with a quick read, Arthur took over ten minutes to barely get the gist of this new education reform plan.

“Extend free education to high school level?” Arthur frowned slightly, turning his gaze to Minister Kailo.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Kailo Jefferson explained, “Some of our financially well-off jurisdictions have already popularised free education to the junior high school level.

The plan for this free education reform is to popularise free education to the junior high level nationwide.”

“It’s too slow.” Arthur’s frown deepened, and his dissatisfaction was self-evident, “Currently, the number of our high school and university students has been climbing steadily, and the average education level is about to reach the high school stage.

Under these circumstances, if we only implement free education up to junior high, it’s somewhat neglectful.

Minister Kailo, has the Ministry of Education considered a plan to directly popularise free education up to high school?”

Upon Arthur’s inquiry, the expression of Kailo Jefferson turned serious and respectful as he answered, “We have considered it, Your Majesty. But looking at the financial status of all states, except for a few jurisdictions such as Sydney, Victoria, if we were to implement free high school education in other areas, it would require significant fiscal subsidies from the government.

Currently, our education budget is not that ample, and it would be a significant burden on the finances of the Kingdom Government.”

The difference between junior high and high school free education might seem like a matter of one word, but in reality, the outcome is vastly different.

In Australasia, junior high education is no longer valuable. The average education level has generally reached junior high, and junior hivers are a dime a dozen.

In such a case, if free education only expands to junior high, it’s like robbing the low-income population of a great portion of their hope for changing their fate.

After all, at this time, although high school education is not so rare, it is already completely sufficient for finding a job.

“How much fiscal input would be required each year if we raised free education to the high school level?” Arthur inquired.

Don’t be fooled by Australasia’s population of just over 30 million, its input in education can already rival other powers.

Of course, the increase is also huge. In just 30 years, Australasia’s average education level rose from a patchy elementary level to above junior high.

Arthur’s annual investment in education scholarships alone starts at millions of Australian dollars.

“Compared to junior high level free education, each year, the fiscal deficit will be at least about 25 million Australian dollars,” Kailo Jefferson explained.

Arthur nodded.

Although 25 million Australian dollars isn’t considered a big sum after currency devaluation, it is indeed a figure that the current education department cannot cough up.

After all, the government’s fiscal budget has its proportions; if one department invests more, other departments must invest less.

But currently, all departments are in the midst of heated development, and no single department can free up that much funds, which was the real reason Kailo Jefferson formulated the plan for junior high free education.

“I will establish a royal education foundation to bear all the costs of books and materials for all students. If I remember correctly, these expenses are roughly around 25 million Australian dollars, right?” Arthur thought for a moment and proposed a method that could solve the problem properly.

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“Yes. According to our estimation, after elevating free education to the high school level, the annual cost of books and materials needed to be borne is approximately 25.22 million Australian dollars,” Kailo Jefferson responded promptly.

“The royal family will fund this initiative, but my requirement is that free high school education must be realized nationwide. Do you have any problems with that?” Arthur nodded, his gaze turning towards Minister Kailo with a slightly serious expression as he inquired.

“Not at all, Your Majesty,” Minister Kailo quickly nodded, with his most confident look: “Rest assured, I will fulfill the plan and await your inspection.”

Establishing a royal educational fund was the result of careful deliberation by Arthur. Firstly, the royal funds should not be overly entangled with the government’s fiscal budget.

Of course, Arthur’s money could be put into the government’s work, but it had to offer Arthur sufficient returns.

The returns here are not about financial gain, but rather prestige, influence, and various things that could bring Arthur tangible benefits.

Since it was the royal family’s money being invested, the royal family should naturally also receive the acclaim.

It is for this reason that the royal educational fund was established—to differentiate it from the government’s educational policy.

The president of the fund is of course Arthur. Following Arthur, the next president will be William.

This arrangement would ensure that every penny invested by the royal family would turn into prestige and return to the royal family, guaranteeing that the money was not spent in vain.

If the money were to be given to the government, on one hand, it would make the government an object of gratitude for the people, and on the other hand, how the government spends the money couldn’t be guaranteed, which would put the royal family in a somewhat passive position.

“Regarding the financial imbalance among states, does the Ministry of Education have any considerations?” Arthur immediately asked.

Free education is definitely not just the result of the Education Ministry’s efforts but is achieved through the collective endeavor of the Cabinet Government, the Education Ministry, and City Councils of various states.

Generally, for education policies, the Cabinet Government and the Education Ministry contribute the bulk, the state governments contribute a part, and a very small percentage is shared by the City Councils.

But every region is different, and naturally, their fiscal budgets vary.

In developed regions like Sydney, they can easily allocate millions of dollars to education.

However, in some smaller cities, the most education funds they can provide is around 100,000 Aussie dollars, which already creates a substantial disparity.

Then there are the Colonies. Some Colonies only have a few thousand people, and their fiscal revenue is very limited.

These Colonies mostly serve strategic purposes, which implies that the government and the Ministry of Education must subsidize them, even possibly covering the entire educational budget for these areas.

“Your Majesty, for our more unique Colonial regions, the Ministry plans to co-operate schools to reduce our educational expenses,” Minister Kailo revealed his plan.

“Co-operate schools? Specifically with whom?” Arthur continued to inquire.

“The cooperation we’re considering at the moment generally involves the Ministry of Education, state and City Councils, and local enterprises,” explained Kailo Jefferson: “In more remote areas, we need to focus more on the educational needs of the children of Factory workers.

There are two aspects to this issue.

The first is that many workers’ children live too far from their parents. Many factories established in the Colonies and overseas Territories are staffed by workers from our Native Land.

For their children’s education, these workers’ kids usually stay in Native Land, leading to a lack of family care.

The Education Ministry’s plan is to collaborate with local governments and enterprises to build schools in areas close to enterprises, allowing these workers’ children to reunite with their parents.

To ensure the enthusiasm of enterprises, the current plan requires enterprises of a certain scale to cover 20% of the cost of building schools in the region.

If the cost is spread among every sizable enterprise, the burden would be greatly reduced, essentially not burdening the larger enterprises.” After glancing at Arthur and confirming that he did not express any dissatisfaction, Kailo Jefferson continued confidently: ”

The second case involves Colonies with a larger local population. In this scenario, the proportion of funds borne by enterprises would be moderately reduced to about 15%.

The Cabinet Government would bear 70%, and the remaining 15% would be covered by the state and City Councils there.

Thus, our policy of free education could spread to even the most remote and impoverished areas, aiming to benefit every Australasian,” concluded Minister Kailo.

Arthur nodded, approving of such a plan.

Getting enterprises to cover part of the educational expense is quite promising. After all, one of the issues causing education problems is that employees and workers of enterprises and factories work far from their families, forced to separate from their loved ones.

However, if such a policy were to be enacted, precautions would still need to be taken against certain issues, such as some enterprises passing the financial burden onto their employees and workers.

Such instances have occurred before and must be prevented.”