The General Directorate of primary instruction has the management of all the various sections into which the system is divided, including those that relate to the teaching corps, school materials, statistics, accounts, etc., as well as to Departmental and Provincial inspectors. Under the new régime, the school extends a beneficent influence over all society, giving to the poorest child such training as will best prepare him for the struggle of life. The law provides for two grades of primary instruction, the first being the elementary school, in which are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, notions of geography and history in general and as related to Peru, rudimentary anatomy and physiology of the human body, the making of objects of common use, gymnastics, and, especially, the essential notions of morality and civic duty. This course covers two years, after which the pupil may enter the second grade, taught in what are known as school groups, or scholastic centres, where three years more are required to complete the primary education, including the learning of a trade. Free night schools for workmen are maintained by the Department of Fomento, and in addition to the public schools there are many private institutions throughout the republic for primary and secondary education. The question of hygiene in the primary schools occupies the particular attention of the government, and a congress was recently held for the purpose of studying the best means of protecting the health of children, with a view to improving the general condition of the race, and making the rising generation robust and strong. In 1907, a system of sanitary and hygienic inspection was adopted for the schools of primary instruction, and the results, so far, have been most satisfactory. Intermediate or secondary education has also received special attention during the present administration, new colleges having been established in several cities, in addition to commercial and industrial schools in Iquitos and Yurimaguas. Twenty-five government colleges provide secondary instruction, three of these being girls’ schools in Trujillo, Ayacucho, and Cuzco. Belgian and German professors have been engaged by the government to conduct the courses of study in the greater number of these schools. In the national colleges the pupil receives a general education, the law requiring four years’ study to complete this course. The graduate is then prepared either to leave school with sufficient knowledge to serve the ordinary purposes of a business career, or to enter the Faculty of Letters and Sciences in the University.