§ 41. Mr. Sorensenasked the President of the Board of Education whether he can 885 now give the promised information respecting education in evacuable areas?
§ Mr. LindsayAs the answer contains a number of figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
| Evacuation Areas (Total Number 68). | ||||||
| Position on 15th April, 1940. | ||||||
| (a) Compulsory School Attendance. | ||||||
| In 50 areas attendance is compulsory for all children of school age, in nine areas only for children of particular ages and in six areas only for certain districts or schools. In the remaining three areas attendance is not compulsory owing to special difficulties in those areas, which are now being overcome, in providing sufficient adequately protected school accommodation. | ||||||
| (b) Provision of educational facilities. | ||||||
| Particulars of the average weekly hours of instruction are not available, but the following tables show the number and percentage of children receiving instruction in Public Elementary Schools and Secondary Schools, its extent and the number and percentage of pupils receiving no instruction. | ||||||
| Elementary Schools. | ||||||
| — | Full-time instruction. | Half-time instruction. | Less than half-time instruction. | Home Service. | No instruction. | Total. |
| Number of children. | 657,345 | 397,058 | 8,524 | 120,250 | 115,044* | 1,298,221 |
| Percentage of Total. | 50.6 | 30.6 | 0.6 | 9.3 | 8.9 | 100 |
| *This figure was 180,000 on 1st April, and should continue to diminish rapidly. Nearly half the children without instruction are in London, where all are expected to be in school in a fortnight. |