[9] A royal order of November 19, 1815, provided for charity schools in the convents of friars and nuns, for primary education, to give instruction in the Christian doctrine, in good morals, and in the first letters to the children of the poor, from the age of ten to twelve. (Barrantes, Instrucción primaria, p. 77.) [10] Vicente Barrantes, from whom these extracts are taken, was for some years secretary to the governor-general at Manila. See Report of Commissioner of Education, 1902, ii, p. 2219. [11] Fred W. Atkinson, formerly general superintendent of public instruction in the Philippines, says: "The early work of the Jesuits in training the Filipinos was commendable, and along right lines in furnishing a common school education. It would have been productive of permanently good results if this order had not been supplanted by the local padres, under whose direction the common branches suffered through lack of attention." See Report of Commissioner of Education, 1900-1901, ii, p. 1317. [12] July 27, 1863, several copies of the plan of public instruction approved for the island of Cuba on the fifteenth of the same month were sent by royal order to the governor of the Philippines, with the object of having the proper measure drawn up, and the advisable plan proposed to the ministry, in regard to the application of said plan to those islands. By decree of October 6, Echagüe created a board of reform of the plan of studies, in order to meet the requirements of the preceding royal order. See Montero y Vidal, iii, p. 403. [13] See a summary of Barrantes's book in Report of Commissioner of Education, 1902, ii, pp. 2219-2224. [14] "Before this date public schools were hardly known in the Philippines, and instruction was confined solely to the children of parents able to pay for it." See Census of Philippines, iii, p. 576.