The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

Book Three

PART VII: EDUCATION
CHAPTER XIX
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION-SPANISH PERIOD
During the Spanish regime all schools were under the control of the Church. They were, indeed, primarily schools of
religion. The friars were thinking of indoctrinating their
students as Roman Catholics, and shaped nearly all studies
to this end. "In the first stage of their civilization," wrote
a Dominican friar, "education in the Philippines was based
exclusively on religion." Semper wrote in 1869: "In the
provinces every village has its public schools in which instruction is obligatory; but, besides reading and writing, only
Christian doctrine and church music are taught."
IN SPANISH TIMES
There were no public schools, such as those to which Semper
refers, until 1863, when a royal decree established primary
education throughout the Philippines. "This project has in
view," runs the decree, "the necessity of disseminating, as
far as possible, instruction in the Holy Catholic faith, in the
mother tongue, and in the elementary branches of the knowledge of life... and considering that the basis of all education is the solid diffusion of our holy religion through its
ministers, it establishes a normal school in charge of the
Fathers of the Society of Jesus.... The immediate supervision of said schools is entrusted to the parish priests, wh6
are given sufficient power to make it efficient, and instruction
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