( 4 ) 
coordinate system had led to much wasted effort 
and the Committee recommended the appointment 
of a Superintendent or Director of Schools, who 
should reside in Singapore. So in 1872 an Inspector 
of Schools was appointed, whose title was changed 
in 1901 to that of Director of Public Instruction for 
the Straits Settlements. For five years this Director 
still did the work of an Inspector in Singapore, 
having a civil servant under him as Superintendent 
of Education in Penang and an educational officer 
as sub-inspector in Malacca. 
Perak, the premier State of the Federation, had 
had a schoolmaster as Inspector of Schools as early 
as 1890. And in his Report for 1896 the Resident- 
General, Sir Frank Swettenham, remarked that 
“ the advantage of having one officer responsible for 
education in all the States is obvious.” Accordingly 
in 1897 the post of Federal Inspector of Schools was 
created, its holder to be an inspecting officer who 
should interfere as little as possible with local 
administration. 
In 1906 this Federal Inspectorship was abolished and 
control of education in the Colony and the Federated 
Malay States vested in one officer, a civil servant, 
styled Director of Education. The Inspectors in the 
four States of the Federation remain officers in 
charge of State Education Departments to this day, 
but the new post at once secured a due measure of 
uniformity in administration and in educational 
aims. The first move by the Director was to get 
schoolmasters as Inspectors of Schools for Selangor 
and Negri Sembilan. The work in those States had 
hitherto been done by cadets of the civil service, 
who were not officers of the Education Department 
and were being frequently transferred. The change 
