Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 418 Social Security
Fireworks and firecrackers rang out for more than ten days in a row. By mid-March, the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year gradually faded away, and citizens from various industries, including government agencies, schools, and the military, also returned to their jobs and started a new year's work.

"In 1888, the government's fiscal revenue was 1 million yuan (equivalent to 5000 million taels of silver), fiscal expenditure was 8700 million yuan, and the surplus was 1300 million yuan."

In the Chang'an Palace, at the first grand court meeting after the New Year, Minister of Finance Zhao Yan reported on the government's fiscal revenue and expenditure in the past year as usual.

“How much financial funds does the government invest in education?”

Li Mingyuan asked while sitting at the top seat.

"The annual educational expenditure for primary and secondary schools is about 1300 million yuan, and the annual educational expenditure for colleges and universities and overseas study is 700 million yuan. The total amount of the two together is about 2000 million yuan, accounting for about % of the total fiscal revenue of the central government."

After Zhao Yan finished his report, Sun Bin, the head of the Ministry of Education standing beside him, added: "In 1888, the number of school-age children enrolled in primary and secondary schools increased by about 1887 percentage points compared to 1. The overall enrollment rate of primary schools reached % for the first time. However, according to the feedback from many grassroots teachers in the past half month, there are still more than school-age children who have not been able to receive education due to factors such as their parents' disabilities and loss of labor force."

“Have the education departments and local government agencies cooperated with the schools and participated in the action of helping out-of-school children solve the difficulties faced by their families?”

"Last year, the Ministry of Education, in coordination with the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Finance and local county governments, carried out a total of 43 activities to help children from poor families go to school. However, due to objective reasons such as parents' disabilities and limited family financial resources, many parents are unable to send their children to school even though they have learned from local officials that their children have the legal obligation and right to go to school."

The Minister of Education said helplessly: "Laws are nothing more than human feelings. For those children who drop out of school due to poverty, the Ministry of Education and local governments mostly take a gentle approach to persuade their parents to send their children to school. As for cases where family conditions are very difficult and parents really do not have the financial ability to support their children to complete primary school education, the Ministry of Education and local governments have no better solution with limited financial funds. They can only watch children aged seven or eight, eleven or twelve stay in rural villages, take on family responsibilities early, herd cattle and sheep on the grassland, and live the same life as their parents."

"Families with disabled or chronically ill parents have low incomes, and the annual tuition for elementary schools is 4 yuan per person. For ordinary workers and farmers, this may not be a big expense, but for parents in poor families, it is a considerable expense."

Li Mingyuan was deeply affected when he learned about the current situation of children from poor families dropping out of school.

“Education is the hope for a country’s rise, and primary education is the foundation of national education. If about 7% of school-age children are out of school and this is expanded to the entire local area, it means that nearly 200,000 children have lost the opportunity to receive education.

The Han Empire is the motherland of all citizens, and also the motherland of those school-age children who are out of school. As the ruler of the country, I care for and love the children in all parts of the country as if they were my own children. I feel uneasy watching nearly 200,000 children lose the opportunity to go to school. "

Li Mingyuan thought about the problem of children from poor families dropping out of school and the example of free compulsory education in later generations. He made a decisive decision after thinking for a while: "There are more than 4 million children of school age in local primary schools! The tuition fee for each person is 600 yuan per year, which adds up to yuan.

The government's fiscal surplus is now 1300 billion Han Yuan. I intend to take out 400 million Han Yuan from the national fiscal revenue, plus a portion of the annual profits of several large military industrial enterprises controlled by the royal family, as the primary school education funds. With an annual education grant of 600 million Han Yuan, we will replace the tuition expenses of the families of children of school age in the primary school, and implement a five-year compulsory education system for primary schools. Starting from today in June, it will be promoted from the Gyeonggi Province area to the whole country. "

"Your Majesty is merciful. After your benevolent policies are implemented, the children and citizens of all parts of the country will surely be grateful for your grace!"

Sun Bin, the Minister of Education, bowed and said excitedly, "The out-of-school children in various parts of the country are also the descendants and hope of every adult citizen. Therefore, I earnestly ask Your Majesty to allow the Ministry of Education to start a donation campaign to call on all government departments and citizens from all walks of life to raise some funds for local primary school education! To fill the gap left by insufficient financial funds!"

"I second this motion."...

The suggestion made by Sun Bin, the Minister of Education, was unanimously approved by the ministers in the palace, and they all bowed and requested.

"You are all the pillars of the country. With the emperor and his subjects united as one, there is no need to worry about the failure of national education! There is no need to worry about the failure of national rejuvenation!"

Regardless of whether the ministers below were truly willing to shell out money to subsidize free education in primary schools, Li Mingyuan still had a satisfied look on his face.

“Funds from fiscal allocations and national donations can alleviate some of the financial pressure on local families, but relying solely on the primary school tuition exemption system still cannot solve the problem of school enrollment for children from poor families.

If we want to fundamentally solve the problem of out-of-school children, we must start with their families and, following the example of the German Empire, establish a basic social security system.

In 1883, the German Empire enacted and implemented the first social insurance law in the West, the Sickness Insurance Law, which limited the scope of insured persons to miners, quarrying workers, and lower-class white families with an annual income of 2000 marks. According to the actual situation of the people in the native areas, the Great Han Empire can expand the scope of application of the Sickness Insurance Law. All agricultural workers, servants, primary school and family teachers, theater employees, sailors, and those engaged in home industries with a monthly salary of less than 6 Han yuan must be compulsory insured.

Insurance funds are shared by employers and employees. For example, the cost of worker insurance in an enterprise is usually borne by the employer.

The government shall bear two-thirds of the total insurance cost, and the workers shall bear one-third. The amount of insurance paid by the workers each year shall be limited to between 1% and 3% of their annual income and shall not exceed this range.

“Should the Disease Insurance Law paid by employers and workers be included in the national administrative supervision system?”

"Yes, the insurance money paid by employers and workers is deposited in the central bank. At the same time, the insurance fund supervision board is composed of representatives of employers and workers. The board has the right to supervise and manage the reserve and use of insurance funds together with the local branches of the central bank."

After Li Mingyuan shared with everyone some of the social security systems he knew, hundreds of officials, after some discussion and modification based on the local government's financial situation and the background of the times, reached a preliminary consensus on the issue of establishing a basic social security system.

The central government is preparing to establish a social security system for all citizens in the mainland region, with three insurance laws as the main components: the Disease Insurance Law, the Accident Insurance Law, and the Orphan and Disability Insurance Law.

The "Disease Insurance Law" covers free diagnosis and treatment, medical care, funeral expenses, and sickness recovery expenses. The recovery expenses are about half of the insured's normal salary and are paid from the third day of illness. If the illness lasts for half a year, the subsequent recovery expenses will be paid by the accident insurance fund.

In the first ten years after its official enactment, between 1890 and 1900, the Accident Insurance Act was intended to apply only to a few particularly dangerous occupations.

Ten years later, the scope of application of the Accident Insurance Law was expanded to include all citizens whose monthly salary was less than 30% of the local average wage, including those in the postal and telegraph industries.
Personnel in industries such as insurance, railway business, navy and army factories, and government employees can all enjoy the social security provided by the Accident Insurance Law.

The cost of maintaining accident insurance is borne by the employer alone. Employers engaged in similar business form an insurance society to manage the fund.

Anyone who starts or acquires a business that falls within the scope of this law also becomes a member of an insurance society formed by local employers of the same trade and pays insurance premiums to the society according to the wage bills he pays and the degree of risk his employees are exposed to. Such societies are managed by representatives elected by employers and are fully responsible for paying compensation. The amount of compensation is determined by local law.

Anyone who suffers an accidental injury during employment that is not due to negligence or reckless behavior and loses the ability to work for more than 3 days or dies shall be compensated. The compensation includes free medical care and cash pension. The cash pension is paid as follows: (1) From the 4th day after the injury to the end of the 4th week, 50% of the monthly salary of similar local workers shall be paid from the disease insurance fund, but not more than 10 yuan per month.

(2)从第5个星期起至第13个星期结束为止，除前项现款外，由雇主保险会社加付日工资的1/6。

(3)第13个星期之后，按受伤人平均每年收人的2/3计算，全部由雇主保险会社支付。终身残废者的抚恤金额为其平均年收入的2/3，

The funeral expenses are 1/15 of the deceased's annual income, plus maintenance expenses with a total amount not exceeding 60% of the deceased's annual income.

The Orphans and Disabled Persons Insurance Act, as a direct solution to the problem of out-of-school children, will be promulgated and implemented before December 1889.

The main contents of the Orphan and Disability Insurance Law are:
Anyone who is 16 years of age or older and has a wife and children must participate in insurance to protect against the risk of disability and loss of productivity.

Those who pay insurance premiums and live on wages enjoy the following benefits: those who become permanently disabled and lose more than 2/3 of their ability to work will receive annual disability allowances;
Families with children under 2 years old who are attending elementary or secondary schools of appropriate age will be given a minimum education subsidy of yuan per month during the five-year elementary school stage, and % to % tuition reduction or exemption will be given during the three-year secondary school stage, depending on the degree of family difficulty.

If students from poor families are admitted to public colleges and universities, the government will provide them with interest-free loans and full tuition waivers to help them complete two years of preparatory courses and four years of regular courses, a total of six years of higher education. During the period of study, the government will also provide financial subsidies for living expenses as appropriate.

In addition to families impoverished by illness and disability, some young widows and their children whose husbands died due to other unexpected reasons,
During the period of not remarrying, the widow's maintenance is 3/10 of the husband's salary, and the government adds 20 yuan per year to provide living allowance for widows and their children.

The three social security laws basically cover the life security issues of people in special difficulties. Among them, for widows who are of marriageable age and have not yet lost their ability to work, the government, in addition to paying their minimum child-rearing expenses, also encourages them to remarry. After all, the number of local men of marriageable age has always been higher than that of women. As long as the local immigration policy is not abolished, the imbalance in the gender ratio between men and women will become a stubborn problem that accompanies the country's development.

Thanks to classmate Yuan Wei Zi Yuanyang for the reward of 6000 coins!
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(End of this chapter)