Empire Rising: Spain - Chapter 232 - 160: Education Reform (Part 2)

Afterwards, efforts were directed towards patching up technical personnel and doing their utmost to win over related research talents. Due to the uncertainty of the talent gap, and the possibility of other countries enacting laws to prevent talent poaching actions like those of Spain, there wasn’t a specific budget for this area, and everything would have to be assessed according to the situation at the time.

Even after deducting the 270 million for foreign actions, the Spanish Government’s total fiscal budget for this year still stands at 727.2 million Pessetas.

Due to the large expansion of the army, military expenses remain the largest portion of fiscal expenditure for Spain. In 1874, the budget of the Spanish Ministry of Defense reached as high as 197.3 million Pessetas, accounting for 27.1% of the total fiscal budget.

The next largest investment is in industrial construction. Even excluding costs for purchasing companies and attracting talent, the budget for the Ministry of Industry still amounts to 145.7 million Pessetas, exactly one-fifth of fiscal expenditure.

The Department of Transportation, as a newly established cabinet department, ranks third in fiscal budget among all cabinet departments, with a total budget close to 130 million Pessetas.

After all, they are tasked with building over 3,500 kilometers of railways and many highways, so providing the Department of Transportation with such a large budget did not face objections from other departments.

Constructing 3,500 kilometers of railways alone is enough to be a headache, let alone the Department of Transportation also being responsible for building roads, train stations, railway route deployments, goods transportation, and more.

For a newly established department, the first year presents quite a severe test. But if these tests are completed, the achievements the Department of Transportation could gain will undoubtedly be among the most in the cabinet departments.

The departments related to public livelihood, public security, education, health, and agriculture all have their own budgets too, with total scale certainly more than in previous years.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is somewhat independent, with no small budget. After all, this department needs to maintain embassies stationed in various countries and conduct certain diplomatic activities, and insufficient funding would present a big problem.

Such a massive fiscal budget was, of course, reported to Carlo by Prime Minister Prim. Considering that the Temple Treasure indeed gave the government considerable confidence, Carlo agreed to the fiscal budget report accordingly.

After all, with the Temple Treasure, the Spanish Government can at least issue tens of billions of Pessetas in currency. Although a fiscal expenditure close to 900 million Pessetas seems exaggerated, the Currency Issuing Committee had previously had plans regarding additional issuance of Pessetas.

This seemingly exaggerated fiscal expenditure is actually just a reasonable means to circulate these additional Pessetas into the market.

However, Carlo did not do nothing. On Carlo’s suggestion, Prime Minister Prim appropriately increased the fiscal budget for the education department, assisting the department in better promoting literacy education and spreading higher levels of education.

Before Carlo’s accession, Spain’s illiteracy rate was as high as 70%, comparable to Italy’s.

After five years of development, Spain’s illiteracy rate has effectively decreased. According to statistics from the Spanish Government, within these five years, nearly 4 million people in Spain have received literacy education, and on average, over 800,000 people per year have received the government’s literacy education.

Especially after Carlo decided to offer a free lunch to everyone receiving literacy education, more people participated in literacy programs.

Currently, Spain’s illiteracy rate has dropped below 45%. Achieving such results in just five years is indeed a significant contribution from the education department.

But a 45% illiteracy rate still does not meet Carlo’s expectations. Carlo’s reason for requesting Prime Minister Prim to increase the education department’s budget is to ensure that by the completion of the second five-year plan, Spain’s illiteracy rate will be thoroughly reduced to below 20%.

It should be noted that Spain does have many elderly and disabled individuals who are not suitable for education. Considering these people, a 20% illiteracy rate is already quite low.

On this basis, vigorously developing secondary and high school education, and introducing a series of policies to reduce fees for higher education, is the effective way to cultivate local talents in Spain.

Discussing cultivating university students before thoroughly reducing the illiteracy rate doesn’t resolve the root issue.

After all, having enough university students requires having enough high school students first. To have enough high school students, there must first be enough middle school students.

That’s also the importance of laying a solid foundation. Only by constructing sound primary education can one seek higher-level middle and high school education.

Only by properly setting up middle and high school education can there be more university students. If the focus is only on the development of universities and the cultivation of university students, Spain’s education will eventually be just a castle in the air.

After all, with the premise that most people are illiterate, how can Spain ensure that each year enough excellent university students are nurtured?

The fiscal budget was passed by the House of Representatives not long ago, and the new Minister of Education, Gerard Wilson, personally sought an audience with Carlo and reported the specific development goals of the five-year development plan of the education department.