§ Sir P. Hurdasked the President of the Board of Education whether he has considered the protest of the Wiltshire Education Committee against the practice of postal officials in tempting parents to break their agreement to keep secondary scholars at their schools until the end of the school year following their sixteenth birthday; and whether he will uphold the committee's refusal to allow these scholars to be so withdrawn?
§ Mr. RamsbothamI am inquiring into the particular case to which my hon. Friend refers. The enforcement of school life agreements in secondary schools is a matter for the discretion of the local education authority or governors, and the Board are not in a position to intervene in a matter which may be the subject of legal proceedings between the authority and the parent. In general I deprecate the recruitment of secondary school pupils into employment before the expiry of such undertakings,, and I have no reason to believe that any encouragement is given by my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General to such a practice.