In 1884 a general school law was passed, repeatedly modified since, according to which primary instruction is a charge upon the municipality, while the cost of secondary instruction is to be defrayed by the state. Supreme inspection over educational matters was given to the Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, who was assisted by a superior board of education with school inspectors in the various provinces. There were further special boards of education in each province, presided over by the governor, and school boards in the communes which are not capitals of provinces and in the cantons. Owing to the difficulty of finding competent personnel, the inspection of the educational institutions has generally been perfunctory and the teachers have done pretty much as they pleased. Unfortunately the financial limitations of the country have not permitted the development of the schools in the measure desired. Since the middle of 1917 numerous changes in the school system and curriculum have been decreed by the Department of Public Instruction and the system is undergoing a general reorganization. In 1882 a "Professional Institute" was founded, the name of which was in 1914 changed to "University of Santo Domingo," and it is now called the Central University of Santo Domingo. It occupies the same building in the capital, adjoining the church of St. Dominic, where the old university was located. It confers degrees in five branches: law, medicine, pharmacy, dental surgery and mathematics and surveying. Practically all the lawyers of the Republic have graduated from this school. Most of the native pharmacists, also, have studied here. With reference to instruction in medicine and surgery, and in dentistry, the institution is handicapped by the lack of a suitable hospital and clinic. As a result those who wish to adopt any of these professions pursue their studies abroad, if possible, and all the best known physicians are graduates of foreign universities. The entire annual appropriation for the University is only about $24,000. A similar institution, on a smaller scale, is the Professional Institute of Santiago, founded in 1916. In several cities there are high schools called normal schools, and other institutions called superior schools, and the capital has an academy of drawing, painting and sculpture. With the exception of a few private schools, primary education is in the hands of the municipalities, which are assisted by small subventions from the national government. In the municipalities there is more enthusiasm for education than in Congress, if we judge from the figures presented by the budgets. Every little town takes pride in making its budget for education as large as possible, year after year. The total amount spent for educational purposes, however, including salaries, rent, supplies, subventions and teachers' pensions, is only in the neighborhood of $500,000, contributed about in equal shares by the state and the municipalities.