tan France. Thus, government responsibility for the financing of education is officially divided between the French national government, the Departmental governments, and the communes, or local governments. In practice, however, most of the costs of public education in the French Caribbean Departments are paid from the French national budget. The national government meets the entire expense of teachers' salaries, the principal item in current operating expenditures, as it also does in metropolitan France. The Departments and communes are supposed to bear most of the costs of building, upkeep, supplies, and furnishings, but their ability to do so varies from time to time and locality to locality, so that the greater part of the burden falls on the central government. The Departmental and local governments are also supposed to contribute substantially to school construction expenditure, but with the rapid growth in school-age population in recent years they have been unable to keep up with the needs. The result is that the central government, which is empowered to make grants to French communes of up to 85 percent of construction costs, has increased its share to the Caribbean Departments in recent years.

Generally speaking, Martinique has been regarded as being in the most favorable situation of the Caribbean Departments in recent years with respect to public expenditures on education. Its expenditures for recurrent costs in the year 1957-58 were in the neighborhood of 2,000,000,000 francs, or the equivalent of about $5,000,000.3 This amounted to a per capita annual expenditure of the equivalent of about $20, based on an estimated population of 260,000 at that time, or the equivalent of roughly $80 per student. The bulk of the total went for teachers' salaries, paid by the national Government. With respect to amounts for capital expenditures, whereas the share of the national Government previously amounted to 45 percent to 60 percent, increases ranging up to the full 85 percent have been forthcoming in the case of many communes. The approximate dollar equivalents spent by the French national Government on school construction costs in Martinique in recent years are as follows (figures supplied in francs by the Vice-Rector of education for Martinique and converted to dollars on the basis of the official exchange rate):

Thus, as regards both current and capital expenditues, all but a small proportion of educational costs in Martinique is paid by the

3 Education in Martinique, The Caribbean, 11: 128, January 1958.

central French Government in Paris. The island's own resources would fall far short of providing the educational facilities available. As contrasted with the situation in the British and Netherlands affiliated Caribbean areas, education in the French Caribbean Departments is primarily public education. Most schools are government schools, though there are a few Catholic schools. In French Guiana the private clerical schools are relatively more significant than they are in the island Departments. In the Caribbean Departments, as in metropolitan France, inspection of private schools has been limited to ensuring compliance with certain legal regulations and has not generally extended to methods and content of instruction. However, to obtain the certificates or diplomas granted by the public authorities, which are generally required for a wide variety of employment, professional, and further educational purposes, those pursuing studies at private schools must take the same examinations as public school students on completion of different stages of schooling. This has the effect of making for similar curriculums in private and public schools.

Educational Pattern in Martinique

Of the three French Caribbean Departments Martinique is the most developed in its educational facilities generally. It is, therefore, the intention here to view educational trends in the French areas largely through more specific attention to that island. Generally speaking, the same trends are also evident in Guadeloupe and French Guiana, although there are certain variations from the Martiniquan pattern.

Population and Enrollment Increase

The essential statistical fact for education in Martinique is the accelerated rate of school-age population growth and school enrollment since 1950. The annual number of births increased from 6,500 in 1944 to 10,800 in 1958, at the same time that the infant mortality rate was substantially falling. It was pointed out by the Martinique Vice-Rector in 1959 that the adult population 20 years of age and over was not much greater then than it had been in 1900. In 1957 more than half the total estimated population of about 260,000 were stated to be less than 20 years of age. Viewing this population growth another way, one sees that the number of those in the legal

4 Statistics in this chapter relating to educational needs and trends are taken largely from three sources, supplemented by material supplied directly by educational officials in Martinique in 1958-59. The three published sources are (a) "Education in Martinique," op. cit., which is a report prepared for the 7th Session of the West Indian Conference in 1957; (b) Inspection Academique de la Martinique, "Tableaux Statistiques de l'Enseignement Public et Prive dans la Departement de la Martinique, Janvier 1959" (mimeo.), and (c) UNESCO, World Survey of Education, II (Paris, 1958).

school-age bracket of 6 to 14 increased by 1,480 in the period 1945-49, 5,780 between 1950 and 1954, and an additional 11,450 between 1955 and 1959. It was anticipated in 1959 that the number in this bracket would increase another 11,000 by 1964, from a total of about 54,000 to almost 65,000. In 1957 it was officially reported that among the Departments of France, Martinique, which is 92d in area and 74th in total population, was 34th in the size of its population of legal school age.

Despite the fact of the drastic increase in school-age population and the difficulties of keeping up with school building needs, it was offically reported for the school year 1958-59 that 99.7 percent of the 6 to 14 age group were enrolled in school. This compared with the approximate enrollment ratios of 60 percent for 1938, 77 percent for the 1946-49 period, and 82 percent for the period 1950-53. The 99.7 percent enrollment ratio for Martinique in 1958-59 was compared in Martinique official reports with a stated 93 percent enrollment ratio for metropolitan France. In Guadeloupe and French Guiana there is a similar upward trend in enrollment ratios of those of legal school age in recent years. It was estimated in 1959 that the ratio was about 98 percent for French Guiana, where the schoolage population has also increased sharply since the census of 1954, despite the sparsity of the total population. In Guadeloupe one estimate of the enrollment ratio in 1958-59 was 80 percent, lower than that of Martinique but higher than in any previous year.

School enrollment figures for Martinique for 1958-59 indicate that after age 14 the enrollment ratio fell to 46.1 percent for the 14 to 16 age group. These figures took into account students beyond the age of compulsory attendance completing elementary education, as well as those in vocational and regular secondary education. Nevertheless, one of the recognized educational problems in Martinique is the need for further education and training for boys over 14 years of age whom it has not been possible to keep in elementary school or to place in other schools.8

It was estimated in the school year 1958-59 that about 71,000 persons, or more than 25 percent of the total estimated population of 270,000, were receiving elementary, secondary, or vocational instruction in the public and private schools of Martinique. This represents an increase both numerically and percentagewise over the approximately 60,000 reported as receiving such instruction in 1956.

5 "Tableaux Statistiques," p. 8.

6 UNESCO, World Survey of Education, II, p. 410. The computation of the enrollment ratios for these years does not appear to be on precisely the same basis as for the year 1958-59 but the difference would not appreciably alter the ratios and conclusions. 7 "Tableaux Statistiques," p. 9.

8 "Education in Martinique," op. cit., p. 127-128.

The following table summarizes the enrollment situation in these levels of education in the school year 1958-59:

As is evident from the foregoing figures, those receiving elementary education are in the overwhelming majority in Martinique, and the same situation prevails in Guadeloupe and French Guiana. The system in the broadest sense has been regarded as including both the regular 8-year program of elementary education and the 4-year program of the cours complémentaire (complementary course). Some students are selected for the latter after 5 years of elementary schooling at about age 11 or 12, at the same time that other elementary students are chosen for the lycées (secondary schools) or the Collège Technique (vocational secondary school). This is generally known as entering the sixth class (entrée en sixième), the classes, or years, numbering downwards rather than upwards as one progresses in the French system. Those remaining in elementary school and completing the 8-year program receive on final examination, as in France, the primary school certificate (certificat d'études primaires).

The complementary course adds 1 year of schooling to the usual elementary education. Since opportunities for regular secondary education have been restricted in Martinique, the complementary course has increased in significance as terminal education and, as we shall see later, also as a principal source of recruits for elementary school teachers. Those enrolled in the complementary course in 1958-59 had approximately doubled since 1950, reaching a total of almost 5,200. The course is generally offered in schools which also give the regular elementary program. On examination the same terminal certificates are given for the complementary course as in metropolitan France, either an elementary certificate (brevet élémentaire) or a lower secondary certificate (brevet d'études du premier cycle du second degré). The latter is the same certificate given to those completing the first 4 years of the lycée, or regular secondary school.

Figures for given years on enrollments in the public elementary schools and complementary courses are as follows: "

9

It is seen from these figures that the rate of enrollment increase from 1938-39 to 1948-49 was 18.3 percent, whereas between 1948-49 and 1958-59 it was 63.6 percent. Overall, there was an increase of 92.3 percent in the 20-year period 1938-39 to 1958-59, compared with a 29.3 percent increase for metropolitan France in the same period.10 Those enrolled in Catholic elementary schools increased from about 1,000 in 1952-53 to 2,000 in 1958-59.

The increase in enrollments has posed, as in the British and Netherlands affiliated areas in the Caribbean, a serious problem of classroom space. There is the simultaneous need to construct new buildings, to meet new space demands, and to replace or improve older facilities. An intensive school building campaign has been carried on, so that despite increasing enrollments and the achievement of virtually universal enrollment in the 6-14 age group, there has been a gradual decline in the average number of students per classroom. Regulations have prescribed a maximum class enrollment of 30, but crowded conditions have precluded the substantial attainment of this objective. In 1950, 53 percent of the classrooms had more than 40 students each. By 1957-58, this had declined to 42.6 percent, and there was a further decline in 1958-59 to 39.5 percent. The average number of students for the 1,536 classrooms. reported as being in use in 1957-58 was 39.3, while for the 1,697 classrooms of 1958-59 it was 37.8 students.

Because of the sharp population increase it has been necessary to concentrate in the school building program on the provision of new facilities to meet this need, and to defer the replacement of old and

9 "Tableaux Statistiques," p. 1-2.

10 Ibid.