The Superior Council deals with programmes for instruction, regulations for II se i pl i ing, and school management generally, and hears apiwals from the lower councils regarding schools that have peen suppressed or have not been sanc tioned by the lower authorities. It is the high court of appeal in all contentions. The academie eouncil oversees courses of instruction in either higher or secondary schools, judges cases involv ing discipline of teachers or pupils therein, or the establishment or suppression of secondary schools. The departmental council has similar functions regarding the primary schools and determines their establishment. location, and the number of team-hers. It also inspects them.
I?y the laws of 1890 and 1890 universities have been organized in each academy. Preparatory to them are State lyemses. or classical schools, of which there were in 1900 for boys 109, and for girls 40; communal colleges for boys, of which there were 221; and cull •ges for girls, numbering at that date 28. All these institutions take both boarders and day pupils. Besides these, there are a number of secondary courses for girls. The primary schools may he grouped under five heads: (1) The maternal schools. tvhieh receive children between two and six years of age. From being schools for taking care of children whose mothers were out at service. they have become part of the edneational scheme. They are sup plemented by infant classes, which prepare the ehiblren for the elementary schools, and take the place of the maternal schools in small communi ties. To them are admitted children from four to seven years of age. (2) The clrmentary pri mary sehools ('colts iffimaires elemrutaircs). These take children from six to thirteen. the work being divided into three grades of two years each. (3) The superior primary schools ((roles primairrs superirurrs). The place of these may he taken by the 'complementary courses.' fhe !fitter are partly review courses, partly advanced with special attention to train ing for practical life. in them instruction lasts two years. There are two classes of superior primary schools. the professional and the non professional. The first class includes commereialg technical. and industrial schools. The second has an advanced. liberal course for three years, supplementing it by considerable technical and inmInstrial work dnring the rest of the time. It takes pupils from twelve to eighteen. It was originally designed to prepare for the secondary schools. hut having o somewhat similar course, and hying less it failed. it was revived with the addition of the vocatimml train ing in 1580, (.1) The apprentice schno/N, which are sometimes classified as superior primary sehools. Their name indicates their function, actual shop xvork being the centre of the cur. riculum. (5) The primary normal schools. Be sides these, there are two higher normal schools, w•luielI prepare teachers for the primary normal schools, and the superior primary schools. There are eighty-seven primary normal schools for men and eighty-five for women. They ghe a three years' course. The primary school system is further supplemented by courses for adult, offer ing either elementary, technical, or commercial instruction, or lectures on subjects of general cid ture.
In the primary schools tuition is free. :Nlore over, by the law of 1807, a fund to help pupils whose parents cannot supply them with clothes, books, etc., was created. Its establishment in each commune was decreed ill 1882, the State agreeing to contribute. it is distributed by local committees, and in many cases children at school are even provided with dinners. In the superior primary schools, bursaries exist to support de serving 101pils taking the courses. _At the age of sixteen the holders of bursaries may be trans ferred to secondary schools with a continuation of their stipends. Bursaries also exist in the secondary schools, awarded on examination to students of limited means. Students are ad mitted to the normal schools on competitive ex amination. They are supported while there, and, when they graduate, are pledged to teach ten years. They receive positions in the order of merit. Secondary and higher schools, charge tui tion. but, as they are largely provided for by the State, the amount of this is small.
The salaries of all administrators of schools, inspectors, and, except in the ease of the communal colleges and in cities over 150,000 inhabi tants, teachers as well, are paid by the State. 'Phis brings about general uniformity. The sal aries of primary teachers range front $200 to $500a year: of normal school teachers from $500 to $1100; of professors in the lye -es from $040 to $1800; of professors in the universities. from $2400 to $3000. ln primary schools of all kinds, the teachers are divided, according to length of service and efficiency, into five grades, and in lyci'ws into four. Salaries are based on this rank ing. The teachers may. when they have served thirty years. and have reached the age of sixty. receive a pension which amounts to one-sixtieth of the average salary during the last six years multiplied by the number of years served. To nuke up for this, they contribute to a pension fund 5 per cent. of their yearly salaries plus one twelfth of their first year's salary and one twelfth of each increase in salary for the first year of suell increase. In addition to paying salaries and pensions. the State supports the normal schools. the building's for which are erected and equipped by the departments. The departments also furnish the supplies for them, and pay the olliee expenses ineurrcd in running the departmental bureaus and the aeademie brurea of inspection. The eonlimines pay for the supplies of the primary schools and local school for janitors, and for the and equipping of schools and residences for masters. In the Imilding of primary schools, however. a State loan is available, the amount of which on the necessities of the commune. and varies from 15 to SO per eent. of the total cost of the work. The State also loans money to build normal schools. The universities, since their or ganization in the academies in 189G, have been thrown somewhat on their own resources and those of their localities. The State no longer equips laboratories or libraries, nor maintains new courses, nor builds new buildings.