APPENDIX II. TO SCOTTISH OFFICE CIRCULAR.

YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS ACT, 1901.

ORDER by the Secretary for Scotland as to the Register of Convicted Youthful Offenders to be kept for Summary Courts in Scotland under Section 13.

I, the Right Honourable Alexander Hugh, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, K.T., His Majesty's Secretary for Scotland, hereby direct that the Register to be kept under Section 13 of the Youthful Offenders Act, 1901, shall apply to all offenders under the age of sixteen years, and shall include the particulars contained in the Schedule appended to this Order.

+ Here may be inserted any further particulars in regard to the offender's physical condition, health, family history, &c.

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1901.

(Circular to School Boards.)

Circular 342.

Scotch Education Department.

18th December, 1901.

SIR,

My Lords think it right to call the attention of your Board to the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, which comes into operation on 1st January, 1902. For convenience of reference a reprint of the Act is given herewith. Attention is also called to Section 159 (7) of the Factory and Workshop Act*, 1901.

It will be observed that the Act, while it considerably extends the powers of School Boards in regard to the enforcement of school attendance, and abolishes all exemptions granted upon the passing of any examination, also imposes upon the Boards a grave responsibility in the exercise of their power in granting exemption to individual children over 12 years of age.

The register of the children to whom such exemption is granted must contain a statement of the circumstances and conditions under which it is granted in each case. In the exercise of the powers conferred upon this Department, my Lords will judge of these circumstances and conditions, as they apply to each case individually, and will not be satisfied with any general statement of the conditions under which exemption may be claimed or granted. They believe it to be the intention of the Act not to give a right to a claim for curtailment of school attendance in respect of every child who satisfies certain conditions previously laid down-such as, for example, the obtaining of a Merit Certificate but only in respect of those cases where special circumstances, irrespective of any standard of attainment, appear to justify such curtailment. While, therefore, experience may indicate the general lines which the School Board may follow, and the basis upon which its judgment in particular cases may rest, my Lords think it would be undesirable for School Boards in the first instance to lay down any general rule which may fetter their discretion.

They will be glad to take into consideration any special difficulties which the School Boards may feel, and to discuss with them the circumstances which might be held to justify exemption in particular

cases.

It will be observed that when exemption is granted it will rest with the Board to determine what conditions, if any, as to further partial attendance it shall impose, and for what time. It is to be expected that, in ordinary circumstances, further attendance at a Continuation

Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, Section 159, Sub-section 7.

The provisions of this Act relating to certificates of proficiency or of due "attendance shall not apply, but a child of the age of 13 years, who has obtained exemption from the obligation to attend school in the manner "prescribed by Section 3 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, shall be "deemed to be a young person for the purposes of this Act."

1

Class will be made the condition of exemption from day school attendance, and where the pupil has not already obtained a Merit Certificate, such attendance, in terms of Article 11 of the Code for Continuation Classes, should be at a class conducted under Division I. of the Code "for the completion of general elementary education." In order that such classes may be a fairly efficient substitute for the day school, my Lords have provided in Article 6 of the Code for Continuation Classes that such classes shall have a session extending over a period of at least 20 weeks.

Where the pupil exempted already holds a Merit Certificate, the condition of attendance at classes under Divisions II. and III. of the Code for Continuation Classes may be accepted or imposed.

But further attendance in terms of Section 3 of the Act need not necessarily be at Continuation Classes; and it would appear to be within the discretion of rural School Boards, for example, to exempt children over 12 from attendance at the day school at certain seasons of the year, on condition of regular attendance at other seasons. Such exemptions might perhaps be given more freely where there is reasonable prospect that the partial attendance at school will be continued beyond the age of 14.

It would appear to be within the power of a Board to recall an exemption when the conditions on which it is given are not being observed, and also to grant exemption provisionally, to take effect only when there is evidence that the scholar has definitely entered upon some form of regular employment.

I have, &c.,

H. CRAIK.

Parents to provide efficient elementary education for their children.

School

attendance.

41 & 42 Vict. c. 78.

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1901.

AN ACT to regulate the Employment and Attendance of Children at School in
Scotland.
[9th August, 1901.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice
and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. It shall be the duty of every parent to provide efficient elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic for his children who are between five and fourteen years of age.

2. It shall not be lawful for any person to take into his employment any child (1) who is under the age of twelve years, or (2) who, being of the age of twelve years and not more than fourteen years, has not obtained exemption from the obligation to attend school from the school board of the district in the manner provided in the next following section; nor shall any child (1) who is under the age of twelve years, or (2) who, being of the age of twelve years and not more than fourteen years, has not been exempted from the obligation to attend school in manner aforesaid, be employed in any casual employment, as defined by section six of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1878, after nine o'clock at night, from the first day of April to the first day of October, and after seven o'clock at night from the first day of October to the first day of April.

Provided that nothing in this section shall prevent any employer from employing any child who is lawfully employed by him or by any other person at the date of the commencement of this Act.

from school

3. It shall be lawful for any school board, where after due inquiry in each Power to case the circumstances seem to justify such exemption, to grant exemption grant partial from the obligation to attend school to individual children over twelve years of exemption age, for such time and upon such conditions, if any, as to the amount and attendance manner of further attendance at school until the age of fourteen, as the school on conditions. board shall think fit; and such exemption shall exempt the parent of such child from any prosecution or other proceeding under the Education Acts for neglecting to provide for the education of such child.

Provided that any school board granting such exemption to individual children shall keep a register wherein shall be entered the names of children so exempted, and a statement of the circumstances in which and the conditions upon which such exemption has in each case been granted.

Provided also that the Department shall have power, when it sees fit, to call upon any school board for a return of the children to whom such exemption has been granted, and of the circumstances in which and the conditions upon which such exemption has in each case been granted; and if, after due inquiry, the Department is satisfied that such exemption has been granted by any school board in circumstances which did not justify its being so granted, or that the conditions on which such exemption has been granted are insufficient or that the attendance of scholars within the district of such school board, or any part thereof, is unsatisfactory, the Department may call upon such school Loard to recall such exemption, or to take steps to improve the attendance; and if the said school board fail to do so within a reasonable time, it shall be lawful for the Department to withold or reduce the parliamentary grant made to the said school board under section sixty-seven of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872.

35 & 36 Vict.

c. 62.

4. The Acts specified in the schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the Repeal. extent mentioned in the third column thereof.

5. This Act shall commence on the first day of January, one thousand nine Commencehundred and two.

6. This Act shall extend to Scotland only.

7. This Act may be cited as the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901; and this Act and the Education (Scotland) Acts, 1872 to 1883, shall be construed as one Act.

SCHEDULE.

ENACTMENTS REPEALED.

ment of Act.

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Order of the Scotch Education Department with respect to the Election of Committees on Secondary Education in Scotland.

At Dover House, Whitehall, the 28th day of April, 1902.

BY THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL ON EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND,

The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education in Scotland, considering that by Their Lordships' Minute, dated 10th June, 1897, providing for the distribution of the sum available for Secondary Education under Section 2 (1) (b) of the Education and Local Taxation Account (Scotland) Act, 1892, it is provided that the time for each new election of the Committees on Secondary Education referred to therein "shall be appointed by the Scotch Education Department, having regard to the circumstances and convenience of the locality in which the election is to take place, and so that, so far as practicable and convenient, there shall be an election in each county, burgh, or parish, for which a separate committee is appointed to be elected, once, and not oftener, in every period of three years"; and considering further that a period of three years has now expired since the election of the existing Committees on Secondary Education in Scotland was ordered to take place, do hereby order as follows:

The election of a new Committee on Secondary Education for each of the counties of Scotland, and for each of the burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Leith, and for the parish of Govan, shall take place as soon as may be after the 1st day of May 1902, in accordance with the provisions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 8 of the Minute of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland, dated 10th June 1897.

H. CRAIK.

Secretary.