Mr. PARKERasked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to a resolution passed 913W by the Worcestershire Education Committee on the 12th February requiring head teachers of rural schools to allow children of eleven years of age and upwards to absent themselves from school, on the application of any farmers desiring to employ them, for a period not exceeding on the monthly average six school meetings or three days a week; and whether, having regard to the declaration made, in the House of Commons on the 4th March, 1915, he will say what steps he proposes to take in the matter?
Mr. HENDERSONI regard this resolution as most deplorable and quite inconsistent with the conditions laid down in the House of Commons and embodied in the Board's Circular (No. 898) of 12th March, 1915. Apart from the undesirability of employing children of the tender age of eleven on the land, I consider that the abdication of control by the local education authority, and the imposition on the teachers of an obligation to release children on the demand of farmers, is most objectionable. The circular issued by the authority suggests that the release of children by teachers is to be occasional and for short periods, but the employment of school children for three school days or four week-days a week on the monthly average is apparently contemplated. The Board have written to the local education authority requesting them to reconsider the matter.