Legislative Assembly- amount through the formula provided by DBS and the 20% surplus on top of that. It could be that in this Province, if there are reduced amounts next year for loan purposes, that a different formula will have to be devised, and I wish to make it perfectly clear that no firm formula has yet been established for the allocation of student loans for the next year. But it might, when established, provide certain priorities. I am thinking first of perhaps students studying in Prince Edward Island , then, possibly students studying in the Region, then students studying in Canadian Universities at the post-graduate level, and then students studying in Can¬ adian Universities for under-graduate work, and finally students who may be study¬ ing outside of Canada . These, Mr. Speaker , as I say are merely suggestions, a more precise formula will be worked out in the light of additional data and work. I am hoping, Mr. Speaker , and Mr. Provincial Treasurer, if he is listening somewhere in the building, that by the 1969-1970 academic year that a system of provincial bursaries or loans will be established for University students in this Province, and I would add, Mr. Speaker , particularly at the freshman level. It is the opinion of responsible people in the Department of Education that students of the higher years have a better opportunity of earning money through summer employment and thus are better able to finance the costs of their education. We, Mr. Speaker , are the only Canadian Province without a bursary or grant program for our University students and I hope that we will not continue to find ourselves in this rather unenviable and unique position. The largest single item in this education Budget for 1968-69 is that for teach¬ ers' salaries. This item of some $5,257,000 shows an increase of one and one-half million dollars over that provided two years ago. This is an increase of 42% in a two-year period, and, of course, is the result of many factors. The substantially increased grants that are provided in the new salary scale of one year ago had a very direct and a very great bearing on the increased grants to teachers. The desire on the part of many of our teachers, and quite commendably so, to improve their teacher qualifications and incidentally add to their salaries through further upgrading and classification of licenses has been another important factor. Another one is the recent introduction of a new class of Teacher Certificate in this Province, and one that we have labelled Certificate Six, for the first time recognizes those teachers who have earned their first degree, have a year of professional train¬ ing, and have their Master's Degree on top of that. We are very happy to note that some Island teachers have already placed themselves in this top category and I confidently predict that many more in the years to come will aspire to this high¬ est class of license. And the other very important item which contributed to the increase in teach¬ ers' grants this year is the provision for the first time of sabbatical leave for teach¬ ers in this Province. And just today, Mr. Speaker , in our Executive Council we approved the set of regulations which will provide for such leave during the 1968- 1969 school year. Now I am not going into the details of the regulations, Mr. Speaker , but in the main they are these. Seven teachers per year from our system at the present time are eligible for sabbatical leave, and these are people who have already had at least seven years in the teaching profession in this province and in¬ tend to return after further study. And during their period of advanced study at University they will receive half the grant from the government they normally would receive, and half the grant from their own school board which they normally would receive. And we are very pleased as a Department that this measure of assistance to our teachers has finally been introduced. For many years our teachers have been urged to take further study, and in many cases this has just not been possible financially. This is particularly so of married teachers who wish to improve their qualifications. I am sure that sabbatical leave will be well received by the teachers in this Province and will be one of the more progressive moves in education that has been made in recent years. —312—