THE ENGLISH EDUCATION ACT

Kumara Times, Issue 807, 2 May 1879, Page 2

THE ENGLISH EDUCATION ACT

The Daily News of the 21st January says:—Lord Sandon's Education Act of 1876 arrived at another stage in its progressive application at the beginning of the present year. The principle of the Act which will come into, full operation in 1881, is that no child between the often aud fourteen is to be employed in any labour unless be has passed an examination in the Fourth Standard, or has attended school 25.0 times yearly for five years since he was five years old, or has satisfied the requirements of any educational bye-laws which may be in force in his ..parish. During the year 1879 this rule will be modified, and a child of ten may be sent to work if he has passed an examination in the Third Standard, or has been to school 250 times in each of any three years since his fifth birthday. -The requirements of the Third Standard are onerous. They consist in reading small paragraphs from an advanced, but still elementry reading-book, writing a sentence slowly, dictated from the same book, and working sums in long division, compound addition and subtraction, including pounds* shillings, and pence. Labour certificates will threfore, during this year, be granted to children ten years old who have fulfilled these con. ditions. The exemption still remains in force that any child lawfullyat wok on or before the 15th August, 1876, may continue at work as though'the Act had not been passed; white all children who were eleven years old before the Ist of January, 1877, are practically outside its operation this year. For the purpose of facilitating the issue of these labour certificates the managers of every school must send to the School Board or the School Attendance Committee of its district .a. list of all the children in the school and the number of attendances each chil*ija S made during the year, except such as may have been made before he was five years old. It will be interesting to the public to know in the next education report how far these returns are. made, and how these labor certificates continue to work.

For remainder of news see last page.