§ Lieut.-Colonel HURSTasked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to statements reported in the public Press that the Board of Education have decided that a local education authority has no legal power to require a child to remain at school till the end of the school term in which it attains the age of 14; whether the Board of Education have given such decision; and, if so, on what grounds?
Mr. H. LEWISMy attention has been called to statements of this nature. The Board of Education have given no such decision and are aware of no decision by the Courts to that effect. The matter is governed by Section 9 of the Education Act, 1918, which provides that if a child who is attending a public elementary school attains any year of age during the school term he shall not, for the purpose of any enactment or byelaw relating to school attendance, be deemed to have attained that year of age until the end of the term.