Promotion of Agricultural and Vocational Education

December 3, 1927

ACT NO. 3377

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION; TO PROVIDE FOR COÖPERATION WITH PROVINCES, CITIES, AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE PROMOTION OF SUCH EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, TRADES, AND INDUSTRIES; TO PROVIDE FOR COÖPERATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES AND OTHER INSULAR INSTITUTIONS IN THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS OF VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS; TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS AND REGULATE THEIR EXPENDITURES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated out of the funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated the total sum of five hundred thousand pesos to be apportioned among, and paid to, such provinces, cities, and municipalities as may desire to take advantage of, and comply with, the provisions of this Act, for the purpose of coöperating with them in constructing agricultural and vocational school buildings for vocational schools to be established or already established and purchasing equipment therefor, in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects, and teachers of trade, commercial, home economics, and industrial subjects, in preparing teachers for the said subjects, and for the use of the Bureau of Education in the administration of this Act and in making studies, investigations, and reports to aid in the organization and efficient administration of agricultural and vocational education, which sum shall be expended as herein provided.

SECTION 2. The said sum shall be available for the fiscal year ending December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, and shall be apportioned among the various purposes of this Act, as follows:

(a) Aid in constructing school buildings and purchasing equipment therefor — P100,000.00

(b) Payment of salaries of teachers, supervisors or directors of agricultural subjects — 150,000.00

(c) Payment of salaries of teachers of trade, commercial, home economics, and industrial subjects — 150,000.00

(d) Aid to the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, for the establishment of a Department of Agricultural Education for the training of teachers and supervisors of secondary agricultural instruction — 25,000.00

(e) Aid to provinces, cities, municipalities in preparing teachers, supervisors, or directors of agriculture and teachers of trade, commercial, home economics, and industrial subjects — 25,000.00

(f) To the Bureau of Education for the creation of a division of agricultural and vocational education, the administration of this Act, and the making of studies, investigations and reports — 50,000.00

The Director of Education, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Public Instruction, shall pay out of the funds specified in subsections (b), (c), and (e) of the preceding paragraph of this section and for the purposes therein enumerated, such amounts as are needed in this appropriation. The allotment shall be made on a per capita basis for the average number of pupils enrolled in the agricultural and vocational schools of the provinces, cities, and municipalities during the months of August, September, and October of the preceding year. Of the sum specified in subsection (a) an amount equal to two times the sum appropriated and made available by a province, city, or municipality petitioning for aid, shall be allotted: Provided, however, That if the sum herein appropriated is not sufficient for all provinces, cities, and municipalities petitioning for aid, the following order of preference shall be observed, provinces, municipalities, cities: And provided, further, That among each class, the date and time of filing applications shall govern in determining such preference.

SECTION 3. Any province, city, or municipality desiring to take advantage of the provisions of this Act and receive the aid for the purposes herein specified, shall approve in due form a resolution stating: (a) its desire to take advantage of the provisions of this Act; (b) its conformity with the conditions imposed in this Act for the grant of aid; (c) the nature and character of the work or instruction established or to be established for which aid is sought; and (d) the amount of money available for the project from local funds, and the lands, equipment, and other necessary materials, and their corresponding value, properly certified to by the provincial treasurer of the province requesting the aid, or in which the city or municipality is situated.

The resolution shall be forwarded through channels to the Director of Education, and if approved by him, a recommendation shall be made to the Secretary of Public Instruction for the necessary authority to allot the funds to which the province, city, or municipality petitioning may be entitled to receive under the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 4. The sum made available in subsection (d) of section two of this Act shall be given as a contribution to the University of the Philippines to be spent by the Board of Regents of the said University in the establishment and maintenance of agricultural education courses in the College of Agriculture, which shall give practical training to teachers in agriculture to be employed in the agricultural schools created in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 5. The sum made available in subsection (e) of section two of this Act shall be given as aid to provinces, cities, and municipalities in preparing or pensioning teachers, supervisors, or directors of agriculture and teachers of trade, commercial, home economics, and industrial subjects: Provided, however, That no province city, or municipality shall receive any sum or sums from the said amount unless the persons preparing or being pensioned satisfy all the requirements of the Director of Education, both as to qualifications and as to the courses to be studied, and obligate themselves to serve as teachers in the province, city, or municipality pensioning them for a period at least equal to the number of years during which they had received help or pension in accordance with the provisions of this section.

SECTION 6. A division to be known as the Division of Vocational Education is hereby created in the Bureau of Education to consist of a Superintendent of Vocational Education and a force of specialists and supervisors who shall make studies, investigations, and reports with particular reference to their use in aiding the provinces, cities, and municipalities in the establishment of vocational schools and classes and in giving instruction in agriculture, trades and industries, commerce and commercial pursuits and home economics. Such studies, investigations, and reports shall include agriculture and agricultural processes and requirements upon agricultural workers; trades, industries, and industrial requirements upon industrial workers, and classification of industrial processes and pursuits; commerce, commercial pursuits, and requirements upon commercial workers; home management, domestic science, and the study of related facts and principles and problems of administration of vocational schools and of courses of study and instruction in vocational subjects. When the Director of Education deems it advisable, such studies, investigations, and reports concerning agriculture for the purpose of agricultural education may be made in coöperation with or through the Bureau of Agriculture; such studies, investigations, and reports concerning trades and industries for the purpose of trade and industrial education may be made in coöperation with or through the Bureau of Labor; such studies, investigations, and reports concerning commerce and commercial pursuits for the purpose of commercial education may be made in coöperation with or through the Bureau of Commerce and Industry; and such studies, investigations, and reports concerning the administration of vocational schools, courses of study and instruction and science subjects in vocational schools may be made in coöperation with or through the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines. The Director of Education may have other powers to employ such assistance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 7. The sums made available annually for the Bureau of Education from and after the passage of this Act shall be used for the purpose of coöperating and making studies, investigations, and reports provided for in section six of this Act, and for the purpose of paying the salaries of the superintendent, his assistant and such officers and other expenditures as the Bureau may deem necessary for the execution and administration of this Act.

SECTION 8. All schools established under the provisions of this Act shall be of the secondary grade, that is, that they shall be less than college grade. The controlling purpose of the education to be given in said schools shall be to fit pupils for useful employment and to meet the needs of persons over fourteen years of age who have entered upon or are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm or the farm home, or who are preparing for a trade or industrial pursuit or who have actually entered upon a trade or industrial pursuit.

The Director of Education is hereby authorized and directed to determine the standard equipment to be used, and to prescribe the courses of study, the methods of instruction, the qualifications of teachers, supervisors and directors, the amount of arable land available for field work in the agricultural schools, and the nature and character of the shops and equipment necessary for instruction in the trades and industrial schools.

SECTION 9. All schools originally established or continued under the provisions of this Act shall be free schools, and no tuition fees or charges of any kind whatsoever shall be collected from students attending them.

SECTION 10. Provinces, cities, and municipalities are hereby authorized to request the Governor-General to set aside and reserve such portions of public lands located within the province as may be necessary and convenient for the establishment of school sites and farm sites.

SECTION 11. The Director of Education is hereby authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Instruction, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 12. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, December 3, 1927.