The school age is defined according to imperial ordinance as "the period of eight years between the sixth and fourteenth years of the child's age." The guardians or parents are under obligations "to cause such children to attend school until they have completed the lower elementary school course," this obligation "to take effect from the beginning of the school year subsequent to the child's obtaining school age." Guardians are to send "children of school age to the city, town, or village elementary schools, or to the private elementary schools to be substituted for them, but in case they desire to give the lower elementary school course to their children of school age at their own homes or at any other places, the approval of the highest official of city, town, or village must first be obtained." The length of the school year is not specifically stated, but it is decreed that the number of holidays shall not exceed ninety, exclusive of Sundays. This rule does not apply, however, to apprentices' schools, supplementary schools for technical instruction, and supplementary courses. In the university the academic year begins on the 11th of September and ends on the 10th of July, and the year is divided into three terms. The first is from September 11 to December 24 (105 days); the second from January 8 to March 31 (83 days); the third from April 8 to July 10 (94 days). FINANCE. Income. The funds of the schools established by the different departments are supplied from the national treasury, and consequently out of the appropriation intended for the use of the respective departments. The funds of schools established by Fu and Ken are supplied from the local taxes paid by the people of the respective Fu and Ken. In some cases the money contributed and the tuition fees are added to the local tax to make up the fund, or sometimes a part of it is supplied by governmental subsidies. Tuition fees are considered part of the resources of cities, towns, and villages. The funds of schools, etc., established by wards or villages are supplied from the public funds of wards or villages. Sums of money contributed, tuition fees, and money realized from school lands are added also to the fund. Private schools are maintained by the fees demanded for instruction or by the contributions from private individuals. The grounds occupied by schools, which are organized by the different departments, are in every case Government lands. The grounds occupied by schools established by Fu or Ken are also in most cases Government lands, but in a few cases land jointly owned by the people is added to the Government land. The grounds occupied by schools organized by the wards or villages are jointly owned by the people or are sometimes the property of private individuals. When wards or villages establish at the public expense any schools, such as elementary, secondary, professional, agricultural, commercial, or industrial schools, Government land not in use, if there be any in the place, is granted for school purposes at the request of the people of the locality. The proportion is as follows: Five hundred tsubo. (1 tsubo is about 36 square feet) for each elementary school and 1,000 tsubo for any other school. The land actually occupied by the schools is exempted from taxation. Again, the land possessed by all public agricultural schools and provided for practical or experimental use is exempted from taxation in the proportion of 5 chô (3,000 tsubo) for each school, and when Government land is required to provide farms for practical or experimental use, land not exceeding 5 chô is granted for such use without any payment or rent being required. Prior to the Restoration (1868) the expenditures of scholastic institutions were defrayed out of the national treasury or by the provincial governments. After the department of education was established, school fees were made the principal source of income, and additional aid was granted from the treasury to the schools under direct control of the department. The schools under Fu and Ken were aided by school district rates, voluntarily contributions, and interest accruing from accumulated school funds. In 1878 great changes were effected in provincial financial administration. The expenses of schools established by Fu and Ken were defrayed out of local taxes, and if the towns or villages needed aid from local taxes, the local assemblies decided upon the amount to be given for such purpose. The taxes levied were (1) one-fifth or less (afterwards increased to one-third) of the land tax; (2) licenses and other miscellaneous taxes; (3) taxes on inhabited houses. The law of 1879 left it to the discretion of local authorities whether school fees should be charged or remitted. This greatly decreased the income from school fees and increased village rates. The regulations. of 1884 restricted the powers of local assemblies; Ku, town and vil lage rates were assessed on the value of lands, or licenses, and on every landowner. A limitation was placed upon the rates in 1885, so that they were not to exceed one-seventeenth of the land tax. This caused a decrease of more than 10,000 yen in a single Fu or Ken. In 1886 the general regulations prescribed that school fees should be appropriated for the support of higher and lower grade elementary schools of Fu and Ken. To these were to be added such sources of income as voluntary contributions, etc. If simple elementary courses took the place of the ordinary elementary school, then the same should be maintained out of Ku, town, or village rates, and the salaries of teachers out of local taxes. Investigations extending over a series of years, in regard to the maintenance of lower and higher grade elementary schools, indicated that, in 1888, of the total number of schools nearly seven-tenths required no assistance from city, town, and village rates; in 1889 none was required from five-tenths of the number; in 1890 the proportion went down to four-tenths. This was attributed to the decrease in the amount of school fees and voluntary contributions. Formerly the amount of city, town, and village rates was not allowed to exceed half the amount of school expenditure, but alterations in local administration changed matters; the amount of tuition fees in ordinary grades decreased and contributions diminished. The amount of income of public schools in 1890 from tuition fees was 2,221,534.528 yen; from voluntary contributions, 428,295.328; interest on various funds, 441,856.050; city, town, and village rates, 4,518,458.401; local taxes, 1,145,372.052; miscellaneous, 224,627.062; a total of 9,879,808.143 yen. The rate per cent of population was 0.239. An increase in the items of city, town, and village rates, school fees, and miscellaneous income was manifest over the preceding year, but a decrease in the other items. Of the above income the portion chiefly appropriated to the support of elementary schools was 8,371,289.836 yen, showing an increase over the previous year of 275,574.809. An investigation of the amount of school fees paid indicates that none of the pupils pay less than 5 sen (5 cents) in the Ken of Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi, Aomori, Yamagata, Akita, Gifu, and Okayama, while in the Ken of Ishikawa, Oita, Saga, and Kumamoto none pay more than 30 sen (30 cents). In the Fu of Tokio one-half of the total number of pupils pay over 30 sen (30 cents). In the Ken of Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa 25 sen is the highest fee paid by the pupils. Amount of voluntary contributions to public schools in 1890. Expenditure. The expenditure of the department of education during 1890 was as follows: General expenses, 184,198.093 yen; expenditure for building official residences for private secretaries to the minister, 3,375.616 yen; various other buildings, 2,052.253; for building elementary schoolhouses to be exhibited at the National Industrial Exhibition, 699.455; special expenses for foreign journeys, 6,261.600; total, 196,587.017 yen. The amount of expenditure paid out by the Govern ment to the various institutions included: Imperial University, 249,302.000 yen; school of agriculture and forestry, 38,194.000; higher normal school, 29,250.000; higher normal for females, 21,166.500; first higher secondary school, 66,371.250; second higher secondary school, 33,518.250; third higher secondary school, 47,325.855; fourth higher secondary school, 33,540.000; fifth higher secondary school, 37,914.000; higher commercial school, 25,519.500; Tokio technical school, 26,491.500; Tokio Academy of Fine Arts, 13,125.000; Tokio Academy of Music, 7,291.000; Tokio Blind and Dumb School, 2,250.000; Tokio library, 6,000.000; total, 637,259.355 yen. The total amount for 1890 of Fu and Ken educational expenses, and of educational aid to cities, towns, and villages defrayed out of the local taxes voted by the Fu and Ken assemblies, was 1,188,002.562 yen. This was divided as follows: Lower grade normal schools, 804,516.128 yen; lower grade secondary schools, 238,991.769; special schools, 69,206.905; various schools, 12,518.902; expenses for educational societies and educational encouragement, 9,953.487; expenditure for pupils sent away from the jurisdiction of their respective Fu and Ken, 1,948.000; educational aid to cities, towns, and villages, 50,867.371. The total expenditure for the public schools in 1890 was 8,675,140.109 yen, which is itemized as follows: Table showing expenditures for public schools in 1890. Divide this amount among the different schools, averaging the num ber of schools and pupils, the result is as follows: |