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The establishment of National High Schools was a special policy of secondary education during the Anti-Japanese War period. The significance of this policy lies in that it not only broke the institutional tradition of “high schools set by local governments but universities established by central government” but also provided an important shelter for students and school staffs who were deprived of study or employment during wartime. The purposes of this study are to investigate the development of National High Schools throughout the Anti-Japanese War period, and explore the impact of National High Schools on development of secondary education during the War and after. How the Ministry of Education’s attitude affected the establishment of National High Schools in the beginning was analyzed, and then the promulgation and content of provisions about those to identify the characteristics and meanings of National High Schools during the early stage of institutionalization. Later, this study probes into how the single objective of National High Schools originally was evolved into multiple ones when the number of National High Schools increased gradually across the nation. This study attempts to delineate the Ministry of Education’s basic principles for maintaining the operation of National High Schools from a number of aspects of National High Schools, including evolution of the normal department and the vocational one, state student aid and loan schemes, and curriculum planning. Further, this study discusses how the Ministry of Education planned and implemented the demobilization of National High Schools after the end of the war. The conclusion of this study provides an analysis of the impact of the formation and normalization of the National High School system on subsequent development of education in Republic of China. |