Education in Blue

Education in the Azure Empire is provided through both public and private schooling. Although governed through an unusually centralized bureaucracy; individual Duchies, Free Cities, Free Nations and municipalities are given privileges to manage things like curriculum, funding and testing standards.

Around 80% of students are in public schooling, whilst the other 20% are in private schooling. Schooling is compulsory beginning in the age range 2-3 and ends upon graduation from fourth order schooling at 17-18.

## History

The modern education system is derived from the education system pioneered in the final Azurite Vasigala, where the first truly scholastic public schools were built, although coverage was far worse and not compulsory. Private schools, mostly of religious origin, were prominent in the late Crestopolis prior to unification. Arguably, the first state-run schools were established in the various Dawnist theocracies primarily inhabiting Diorenus, although these too were religious in nature; some also provided a general scholastic education in addition to a theological education as well. Private institutions had operated across Blue for centuries, if not millennia prior to unification.

Some decades after unifications in 683 A.B., the UBR made a dedicated effort to improving literacy and education throughout the fledgling nation, in part inspired by Azuricist goals to further "standardize" the nation. In 708 AB, this effort was realized in a mass campaign to improve access to schooling, where some 2,000 schools were built. Literacy and quality of life subsequently increased substantially, although these efforts were mostly dedicated around urban communities instead of rural ones.

Even in spite of revolt, rebellion, and the general weakening of the UBR, school access and quality continued to increase throughout the years. The modern schooling system was finalized by the Cerulean Sehannate, who further centralized and arguably made the institution far more strict and rigorous.

The most recent change to the educational system was the passage of the Every Child Left Behind act, signed by Aikos Rekcuskcid.

## Structure

Early schooling begins at around 2 and ends at 6 with LNRG. LNRG is an acronym for Learngroup, Nursery, Reception, and Gulrazhta, the first four schools one will attend. LNRG serves more as a precursor to scholastic education and is dedicated towards teaching basic skills like reading and writing rather than genuine education, and serves both as a means of reducing the burdens of parenting (which is why it begins earlier than in other colors), as well as a foundation towards more intensive learning.

The rest of grade school is split up into second, third, and fourth order schooling. Each consist of four grades lasting one year. Compulsory schooling ends sometime around 17-18 depending on a students age in respect to the calendar. Fourth Order schools are typically divided into Regular Fourth Order and Acme Order. Acme Order schools are generally more rigorous and prestigious, with a special emphasis on preparation for Quinary. Students who do well in Third Order can apply or be invited to go to Acme instead of Regular Order. There are around 800 Acme Order schools in the Vasigala.

Post-secondary schooling is referred to as "Quinary" in Blue. There are a wide variety of both public and private quinaries in Blue. Quinary itself is divided into two levels, Scholastic and Post-Scholastic. Blue has the highest rate of post-secondary educational attainment out of any state in the world.

## Funding

38.3 trillion pari are invested into the various schools in the Vasigala. Funding comes from all levels of government served by taxes and revenue collected by the government. The government runs a problem called The Industrial Alignment Initiative (IAI) that covers tuition for Quinary students who study in a specific field. Nearly all IAI funding is dedicated towards the sciences, applied and pure mathematics, and technology.

## Controversies

The educational system in Blue is renowned for its borderline cruelty in rigor and time. Some school hours can last as long as 12 hours, expectations are known to be significantly more intense than in other nations, and things like standardized testing are the highest and most frequent.

In particular, one clause of the ECLB was criticized for mandating schools start no later than 8:00.