Chapter 27 Education
Seeing that Minister Pierre had confidently agreed to his request, Arthur nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile, "Minister Pierre, as long as you can successfully complete this three-year plan, your merit will not go unrewarded. But don't forget—while developing our steel industry, we must also establish the other industries we'll need."
"Yes, Your Highness." Pierre nodded solemnly.
"Industrial development consumes money quickly. Minister Pierre, I will allocate twelve million pounds for you, to be paid over three years. All industrial equipment will be handed over to you as well. I look forward to seeing your results," Arthur said with a smile.
With a sufficient supply of industrial equipment, a budget of twelve million pounds over three years—four million per year—was certainly not a small sum.
"Yes, Your Highness! I guarantee to accomplish the mission!" Minister Pierre stood up abruptly and responded solemnly to Arthur.
"Alright, since the industrial department's plan is temporarily settled, next it's the education department's turn, isn't it? As the saying goes, a nation prospers through education. Only with a large number of talented individuals participating in national development can Australia truly have hope of rising," Arthur said as he turned his gaze toward the Minister of Education, Richard Noble Chapman, smiling as he asked.
"Your Highness, our country's educational situation is currently very backward. The literacy rate is just above sixty percent. That may not sound too bad, but our primary school graduation rate is only about fifty-one percent, meaning nearly half the population hasn't even finished primary school. One reason is that the average income in our country is relatively low, and some people simply can't afford educational expenses. Another reason is that our overall education infrastructure is poor—we don't have enough schools to accommodate all school-age children," Minister Richard Noble Chapman stood up and said with a bitter smile.
Although Minister Richard had done a good job with education in Tasmania, the population there was relatively small, which significantly reduced the difficulty of developing education.
Looking at Australia as a whole, to truly resolve the education issue, it was necessary not only to build enough schools to accommodate students but also to reduce or eliminate tuition and fees as much as possible so that most Australian families could afford education.
"Does the Ministry of Education have any good solutions?" Arthur asked.
Arthur had a general understanding of Australia's educational situation.
In theory, most of Australia's population consisted of European immigrants and should therefore have a high level of education.
But in reality, most of these people were gold prospectors lured by gold mines and gold rush fever—many of whom had been poor and starving in Europe. They had crossed the ocean seeking survival or even wealth in Australia.
Given that background, the fact that both literacy and primary school graduation rates were above fifty percent was already an unexpectedly good result.
"Your Highness, I believe our current education policy should prioritize the development of basic education, and quickly raise literacy and primary education rates. Judging by the broader trends, as our national development progresses, many high-income jobs will emerge. These positions tend to require specialized knowledge. While our basic education may not enable workers to master such knowledge, it will at least help them adapt more easily when they encounter it," said Minister Richard.
Someone with a foundation of knowledge and culture is far more likely to learn new things quickly than someone without that foundation.
Australia would inevitably create many technical positions in the future, and naturally, these positions would be filled by Australians.
This meant that the government now needed to rapidly raise the population's level of education and literacy—so that Australians could quickly adapt when taking on these future roles.
"Hmm, go on," Arthur nodded in satisfaction, signaling for Minister Richard to continue.
"Your Highness, another advantage of prioritizing basic education is that it doesn't immediately require large investments in research equipment or teaching personnel. I believe our top priority should be to rapidly popularize basic education across Australia. At the same time, we should concentrate a portion of our funding on building one key university—not only to fill the gap in domestic higher education, but also to become a cradle for our future talent. If this university has access to ample research funding, it may even help us in attracting overseas talent from Europe," said Minister Richard with a smile.
Education in European countries was well-developed, and their universities produced a large number of graduates each year.
But because of that, there were always some talented individuals who felt underappreciated or dissatisfied with their treatment—individuals who sought alternative opportunities for their dreams.
If Australia's universities could offer generous research funding to these people, they could attract scientists deeply committed to research but unable to obtain adequate funding in Europe.
Once such talent arrived in Australia, gaining their loyalty would be much easier.
This was the logic behind Minister Richard's suggestion of offering unlimited research funding: to attract talent to Australia.
"Hmm, not a bad proposal. How much funding does the Ministry of Education need in total? And how long until we see results in basic education?" Arthur asked.
Richard's proposal was quite good. It not only maximized cost-efficiency for the government but also improved Australia's educational conditions—and might even help attract future talent.
But until real results were achieved, all of this remained theoretical.
"Your Highness, if we're only talking about popularizing basic education, we just need to build elementary schools in cities and towns across all states. The funding required will vary depending on the size of each school. Based on my conservative estimate, we'll need around two million pounds to implement universal basic education. Elementary schools can be completed and operational within six months, and in a year we'll start to see improvement in our educational environment," Minister Richard said slowly after thinking for a moment.
"What if we include the university you mentioned?" Arthur asked.
No matter what, a university—the cradle of high-level talent—was essential, even if it came at a high cost.
Therefore, the cost of building a university had to be factored in, and its implementation had to be expedited.
"Your Highness, constructing a single advanced university might cost over one million pounds. If we include the funding needed for research equipment and talent acquisition, the conservative estimate would be around two million pounds," said Minister Richard, after a long moment of deep thought, giving an astonishing figure.
(End of Chapter)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997