Socrates once said, "Education is a kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."
This quote became a basis for the national university Riz plans to build. At the university level, he shouldn't try to replicate the school system of mass-producing students. Instead, the university's lecturer should give guidance to a small number of students at most. He opposed the idea of education through mass lectures because the lecturers could not give their attention to each student.
His university will not be an exam-centric university. There are still exams but the amount is minimal. He doesn't want students to study purely for the sake of examination. This will make students deviate from their original purpose; to learn and gain new knowledge.
The essence of his university should be researching new fields of study, application of knowledge in real life or inventing tools based on knowledge learnt. There's no point in publishing papers in a journal and leaving them collecting dust without further action.
He has seen a fair share of such cases back when he was a university student. Those lecturers in his university are doing research for the sake of chasing their doctorate title or simply to fulfil their quota to maintain their key performance indicators. As a result, there is an abundance of good research papers that have commercial value left untouched in the library.
To achieve the education he envisions, he needs to limit the number of students enrolled in the university each semester which he has planned to do since the beginning. He can filter out the students based on their examination results. Only an excellent student can enter university regardless of whatever programme they choose.
Having a lot of highly educated people is not a good thing for him. They will one day refuse to do a low-paying job.
In his opinion, controlling the population of uneducated, educated, moderately educated, well-educated and highly educated into the shape of a pyramid is the key to keeping balance in this country.
The second is to charge an exorbitant price as tuition fees to cover the costs and pay salary. Not even once in his mind did he plan to make education at the university level free.
Full scholarships, of course, will be given to excellent students but in a limited amount and only applicable to students from low-income families.
He will ban the private business of providing student loans altogether. This business is easier to get skewed in the future. Rather than help, they'll end up trying to take advantage of students' naivety.
In case a student ends up getting a university offer letter but is faced with a problem of not meeting the criteria for a scholarship and the parents aren't rich enough to pay him or her, do not worry.
Such a student can get a loan from Royal Bank with zero interest.
After all, the currency used in his kingdom is gold, silver and copper. Their value is very stable, unlike fiat money. Unless some large discovery of gold and silver was made, there will be little to no inflation in their value in the years to come.
Riz stretches both of his hands out in the air after finishing writing the documents. Sitting for a long time causes him to have back pain. Occasionally, he takes free time he has to lie down on the couch in his office.
"I've been cooped up in the office for hours now. Let's take a walk."
Grabbing the document he just wrote, his feet start to move toward the Ministry of Education.
Five minutes later, he arrived at his destination. It causes a momentary pause for everyone working there.
With a perplexed look, he inwardly asks himself 'Why would everyone stun whenever they see me? We literally work in the same building complex.'
"Y-Your Majesty, what brings you here?" asked one of them once their shock wore off.
"I came to see Stuart. Is he here?"
"Yes, the minister is here. Let me lead you to his office." She replies.
Every minister's office is located on the fifth floor. In the era with no elevator, the highest floor is considered the cheapest due to the energy people need to spend to get there. When the building was fully decorated, his ministers wanted to set up their offices on the first floor since the ground floor is used for reception.
pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ Riz naturally disagrees with this. From his perspective, a higher floor has much more advantages. It receives better light, a better view of the surroundings, keeps all the noises from the street at a minimum and most importantly, it is harder and consumes much longer time for intruders to reach the highest floor in case it happens.
Ministries' offices contain many confidential documents that can't fall into anyone unauthorized.
Reaching the fifth floor, he receives the same reaction as when he entered the ministry building. The fifth floor only has the minister's office, secretary's office, toilets, pantry and storage room for documents.
The meeting room is located on the floor below them.
'I should get used to it by now.' Riz inwardly sighs while wearing a defeated look on his face.
A guide girl from the ground floor does the talk for him with a woman in her late twenties. He assumed she was Stuart's secretary. There are two more girls fidgeting while throwing a glance at him from time to time.
Riz secretly curses his teacher in his mind 'This old man has a group of secretaries while I only have one for myself.'
"Y-Your Majesty, please wait for a moment. I will inform Minister Stuart of your presence." said the head secretary.
"Alright."
A second later, Stuart left his office in a hurry and invited Riz in.
"You didn't tell me you would come."
"You didn't tell me you have a group of beautiful secretaries either." He looks at Stuart with a straight face.
Stuart naturally understands the underlying meaning of Riz's words. "Oh, them? They are just an extra hand I hire to help me with my work."
"Yeah, I hope you keep it that way. We have a reputation to hold." Riz reminds him. History has proven to him many rulers and higher-ups that fall into women's temptation end up ruining themselves.
Self-control is important for people in power.
"I get it. I'm already old and have many jobs to do. What's brought you here anyway?"
"Here...The last piece of the puzzle for our country's education." said Riz. He passes the document to Stuart.
"University of Ryntum Construction Plan..." Stuart slowly mutters the document's title. He begins to flip it open and read it carefully.
It contains all the plans Riz has envisioned with a sketch drawing of the university. Riz designed his university with a combination of buildings and green open space in mind. He doesn't want the students enrolled there to feel suffocated or confined. Greenery helps reduce stress, calming the mind and improving concentration.
"I had to say, Your Majesty. You have brought up this matter at a perfect time."
"Ohh!? What do you mean by that?"
"In the past two years since you introduced public education to your people, many students have been skipping grades. At first, I found it weird. I suspect there is foul play in this but after doing a deep investigation, all of them skip grades because they were capable of it. It's as if their deep-buried potential explodes because of the opportunities available in front of them. The latest data shows that high school occupancy has reached fifty per cent. It makes me worried about their educational journey getting hindered because we can't prepare the facilities for them in time."
"Fifty per cent!? Well, that's surprising. I never knew my people were smart."
"Hahaha. Never do I. Anyway, did you have anything else you needed me to do, Your Majesty?"
"Nope. Just handle the construction of the university. I already wrote down my requirements and drew many sketches from different angles. Find a competent construction company to refine my drawings and build them. The land of it has already been secured in the educational district."
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
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