Reforms in Education

The strength which it had gained was utilised by the League in a series of fierce struggles for the improvement f the position of the language in the educational systems. Prolonged
Station by means of widespread propaganda, public meetings, protests of public bodies, Parliamentary debates, etc., at length succeeded in winnin” some valuable reforms.

A new scale of “extra fees” for the teaching of Irish in ” national ” schools was introduced in 1901 ; the perverted method by which Irish-speaking children had been instructed through the sole medium of English was modified to some extent by the introduction of a ” Bilingual” system which began to operate in 1903 ; the language of the country was placed on an equality with French and German in the Intermediate system in 1901. Irish was made a subject for the examinations for candidates for positions under railways, banks, and local bodies, and official departments were forced to recognise its use in business affairs.