CLAUSE 15.—(Continuation Classes.) (Hansard, 16 October 1918)

§ Mr. MUNRO
I beg to move, at the end of Sub-section (7), to insert in the Bill the words, Provided that an education authority may upon such conditions as they think fit, exempt any young person from the obligation to attend continuation classes where, after due inquiry, the authority are satisfied that the circumstances justify such exemption, and the provisions of Section three of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, relating to the keeping of a register and to the power of the Department, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to exemptions granted under this provision. The object of this Amendment is to provide that young persons who are obliged to attend continuation classes may, after due inquiry, be exempt from attendance. During the Committee stage of the Bill an Amendment was put down, as I take it, in the interests of the agricultural community, proposing that the school management committee should have the power to grant exemption to any such young person who could be advantageously exempted from attendance, and that the exemption should be confirmed by the education authority. I have also received resolutions from representative agricultural bodies urging that education authorities should be given unrestricted power of exemption in their districts, quite unfettered by any departmental supervision whatever. That view I am unable to accept. My hon. and learned Friend will quite appreciate that I could 192 not accept the Amendment proposed upstairs for similar reasons, partly because it would be unworkable, and partly because it would lead in practice to the same result as unrestricted exemption. I undertook in Committee to consider the whole matter anew before the Report stage. I recognise that there are practical difficulties in the way of an absolute uniform enforcement of this Clause as it stands, particularly in rural districts with sparse population, and where you have to deal with populations who reside at considerable distances from possible centres of instruction. I have therefore carefully considered the matter since it was discussed in Committee, and have come to the conclusion that what difficulty there is would be best met by allowing a carefully guarded power of exemption to the education authorities in this matter of attendance at continuation classes such as has been customary ever since 1901 in the matter of attendance at day schools. The Clause which I put down is merely to apply to the case of continuation classes the provisions of Section 3 of the Act of 1901 which applies to ordinary schools, and the effect of the Amendment is to allow the educational authorities, after being satisfied upon due inquiry into the particular case, to grant exemption under such conditions as they may think fit, but they will be required to keep a register of these exemptions. Power is reserved to the Department to call for a return of persons so exempted, and the circumstances in which and the conditions upon which the exemption in these cases has been granted. If the Department are not satisfied as to the manner in which this has been done, they may require the authority to recall the exemption The education authorities in the past, under the Act of 1901, have exercised this power with great discretion, and almost without interference, and I have every confidence that the new authorities set up under this Bill will use the power with similar discrimination and success.

§ Mr. MUNRO
I beg to move, after the words last added, to insert in the Bill, (8) If it appears to an education authority that any young person of the age of fifteen years and upwards is neglecting or failing without reasonable excuse to comply with any such requirements of the authority, it shall he lawful for that authority, after due warning to such young person and to his parent and employer (if any), to summon the young person, with or without his 193 parent or employer, to appear before the authority at any meeting thereof, and to require from him or them every information and explanation respecting such neglect or failure; and if such young person or his parent or employer, or some person on his or their behalf, either does not appear, or appears and does not satisfy the authority that there is reasonable excuse for such neglect or failure, it shall be lawful for the authority to order in writing that such young person shall comply with such requirement, or with such other requirement as to attendance as the authority may direct. The authority shall cause a copy of any such order to be sent to the young person by registered letter, and if the young person fails to comply with the order he shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding five shillings. There was a considerable feeling expressed in the Committee that the power of prosecution conferred by this Section upon the education authorities was too drastic. I found that this view was supported by the Edinburgh School Board, who have shown great zeal in the promotion of continuation classes, and whose opinion therefore in this matter is entitled to respect. It was suggested in Committee that before initiating a prosecution the education authorities should have some intermediate scheme of procedure, some buffer state, as it were, between the pupil and the Police Court, and the suggestion was that something similar to those provisions in Section 8 of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1908 might usefully be invoked. That suggestion, upon full consideration of the matter, I now propose to adopt by the insertion of this Amendment.

§ Mr. MUNRO
I beg to move, after Subsection (12), to insert in the Bill, (13) The provisions of Section four of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, which relates to the medical inspection of children, shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to the medical examination and supervision of young persons tinder the obligation to attend continuation classes under this Section. The purpose of this Clause is that provision shall be made for the medical inspection and supervision of children who are attending continuation classes. The object of the Amendment is a reasonable one, and I think, after consideration, that an extension to continuation classes of the power which education authorities at present exercise as regards children in attendance at day schools will meet the case. That is the view which I have embodied in this Amendment.