| The primary education is the basis of the nation education. In the end of Qing dynasty, the education in Hubei province has ranked high in China, being listed as the model flat. When it comes to the early years of the Republic of China, the education in this province has declined, however. The decrease has rooted in chaotic political scene where money could not be safeguarded. During the decade of Nanjing National Government, the political situation was stable and the economy boomed, providing financial advantages for the development of elementary education. The elementary education in province of Hubei has typified to some degree, Hubei being within the direct region of Nanjing national government. Four aspects including the administration, the financial system, teachers and students will be researched in this paper in order to know more about the development of primary education in Hubei in the early Republic of China.In the first years of the Republic, on the basis of the Three People’s Principles, Hubei shaped their course about the primary education. It had much to do with the enlargement and settlement, aiming to revive the elementary education. During this period, many kinds of primary schools could be found, for example, the complete primary school, the junior primary school, the trial primary school, the central primary school, the joint guarantee primary school, the simple and easy primary school and short-timed primary school to solve the problem of drop-out. In the meanwhile, Hubei strengthened the supervision in order to manage the education. In terms of the funds, on one hand, Hubei has trapped finances, leading to the insufficient educational investment. But on the other hand, the input in primary education outweighed the secondary education, ranking the first in China. This has demonstrated that the government has payed much attention to the primary education. Funds derived from various ways. Provincial schools attained money from the provincial financial system, urban ones on their own. On the distribution, the salary of teachers was in the majority, office allowance being the second. In Hubei province, compete primary schools enjoyed a proportionally biggest budget, where teachers are outstanding graduates from normal universities. Teachers in counties and towns are complex and those graduated in normal universities are in minority. In order to manage teachers in a better way, this province prescribed the salary, employment and teaching method in detail. Meanwhile, teachers were evaluated regularly and provided with opportunities of further study. As a whole, masters in provincial primary schools lived a wealthier life than those in counties. The former were affluent relatively while the latter could hardly scraped by. Students, the objective in education, increased in number on the whole. Schools formulated in courses daintily. For the sake of encouraging them to study hard, competitions and quiz games were held. In order to test the performances, graduation examinations could be found.A plan of attempts have been done to promote the primary education of Hubei and initial success has been achieved. It not only reinforced the management in elementary education but also accelerated the development of the one in counties. Deep-rooted changes absented in elementary education in Hubei province as a result of the confused educational administration, the struggle in educational circles and the lack of finances. |
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