APPENDIX E 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN 

 DENMARK 



From a memorandum supplied by Mr. Jemdorff fessen 



A child in Denmark must go to school when it has 

 completed its seventh year, but if the parents so desire it 

 may be admitted at the age of six. Its education ceases 

 on the ist April or the ist October in the school term 

 after it has attained its fourteenth year. Parents are 

 allowed to educate their children either at private schools 

 or at home, provided that, on examination before the local 

 School Commission, such children can prove that they 

 are equally advanced in knowledge as are children of a 

 like age in the State schools. 



In the country districts 89 per cent, of the children 

 receive instruction in the public or State schools. In 

 Copenhagen 77 per cent, and in the other towns 70 per 

 cent, receive such instruction. During the last thirty 

 years the number of children who are privately instructed 

 has increased in the country districts, but in the capital 

 (Copenhagen and Frederiksberg) and in the larger towns 

 it has decreased. This is due to the fact that the work- 

 ing classes have multiplied to a greater extent than the 

 middle classes, and that as the public or State schools 

 have been improved, the middle classes send their children 

 to them more than they used to do. 



The evolution of Denmark has so worked that the 

 public school is under the authority of the Government, 

 the Church, and the commune or parish ; but of these 

 three the last has the greatest interest, and one which is 

 continually growing. Each parish is, as a rule, divided 



314 



