Note 9 — GIRLS’ SCHOOLS IN MANILA AND THE PROVINCES

The following results of a table show the following statistics in regard to girls’ schools between the years 1864–1883. Santa Catalina: boarding pupils, 1,617; teachers, 7. Santa Rosa: boarding pupils, 2,959; teachers, 23. Concordia: boarding pupils, 2,103; day pupils, 623; teachers, 32. Santa Isabel: free boarding pupils, 475; pay boarding pupils, 149; day pupils, 112. Municipal school: day pupils, 5,163; teachers, 74; awards conferred, 332; accesit, 1,058. The instruction given in these institutions was always under the immediate direction of the friars, and was consequently of a religious character. Some of them were known as beaterios or retreats, institutions devoted primarily to religious practice. Primary and secondary instruction were both given. In some of them the instruction was very poor, as many of the scholars graduated without knowing how to speak Spanish. It was only in the college of Santa Isabel, in the municipal school, and in some private schools that adequate instruction was given. Some of these colleges were houses of recreation or of rest rather than educational institutions, where not only girls, but women, both married and single, went to pass some time, for the purpose of change or to renew their clothing. Girls from the provinces often attended the schools in Manila to learn the social manners and polish of the capital, but they often failed of their purpose, for social education was frequently neglected in them. The class distinction between Spanish, mestizo, and Filipino girls was unfortunately inculcated. The principal ends of the sisters of charity being the care of their convents and hospitals, they could not obtain as good results in education as if their time had been spent entirely in that field. See Census of Philippines, iii, pp. 620, 621. ↑