SCHOOL CHILDREN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 15 January 1936, Page 2

SCHOOL CHILDREN

.RAISING ATTENDANCE AGE TO BE CONSIDERED AT GENEVA CANBERRA, Bth January. The raising of the minimum school attendance age to 15 years is to be considered by the governing body of the International Labour Office at its meet: ing to be held at Geneva from 24th to 26th October this year. The object is to assist in the problem of unemployment among young people. In the majority of countries children are required to attend school until at •least the ago of 14 years. Of 45 countries,’'only ten have national legislation fixing' the compulsory school age at less than 14 years. In Albania, France, •Luxemburg,: and Panama, the compulsory ■■school attendance age is 13 years. lii Grfeece, Hungary, Italy,' 'Portugal, and Spain it is 12 years, and in Yugoslavia it is ten years. In Switzerland the age is 14 to 15 years. Three provinces in Canada have the compulsory school attendance age at 15 years, four at 14 years, one at 13 years, and one at 12 years. In .Chile, Honduras, aird Norway the compulsory age is 15 years. It is the same in Natal and The Transvaal, but. is 16 years in the Cape of Good Hope and the Orange Free State. In the United States the laws on compulsory school attendance in the majority of the States lay,.down. -16 years, allowing the children, however, to leave school at 14 years of age if they have reached a certain standard of educational proficiency. In such a case, they are usually only allowed to leave school to take up employment. The provisions concerning exemptions have been profoundly modified by the industrial codes, which have required a large number of young people under 16 yearn employed in industry to return to school. .i . ?.. Four International Labour Conventions in 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1932, fixed at 14 years the minimum age of admission to work in industry, at sea, .agriculture, and non-industrial occupations. Tlie International Labour Conference, in its June 1935, gessioh, . after having studied the serious problem of unemployment among young persons, repon;mended that tRh States should, raise the minimum .compulsory school.attendance age to 15, with the." same. minimum age required for admission to employment, and it asked, the governing body .of : the International Labour Office to examine the opportunity of a revision of the conventions to this effect.