J08 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
By law of July, 1877, which carried out the provisions of the law of 1839, parents 
were obliged to send their children between six and nine years of age to the elementary 
grades unless they could show cause for instruction at home or in private schools. 
I'his compulsory education act could be carried on beyond the ninth year if the pupil, 
when called up for examination at close of the course, did not indicate knowledge of the 
studies in the lower grade elementary schools. 
By degree of February 16, 1888, pupils of both public and private schools, and those 
who obtain home instruction, must receive a certificate of having passed such final 
sxamination before they can be placed on the registration list for the holding of politi- 
cal or administrative office. Parents and guardians who fail to conform to the above 
regulations are subject to censure from the syndic, and in case of further non-compli- 
ance they are subject to a fine of not less than $2.50. 
By law of July 15, 1877, which went into force in October, 1877, each commune is 
required to have a certain number of teachers, trained for duty in these lower-grade 
slementary schools. This number is to be proportionate to the population. 
Normal Schools.—The normal schools serve as preparatory schools for teachers of the 
elementary grades. The State provides the funds for the teaching force and for scien- 
iific apparatus. The remaining expenditures and those for the “ Conwvitti” (establish- 
ments where pupils are boarded and lodged) are paid by the provinces and communes in 
vhich the normals are located. 
There are still other schools of this character for the training of teachers which are 
maintained exclusively by provinces and communes, by corporations or individuals, 
while some receive State subsidies. 
The normal schools are of higher and lower grades for men and women. The lower- 
grade normal schools have only the power to confer a diploma as teacher for the three 
lower classes of the lower-grade elementary schools. The higher-grade normals. on the 
contrary, confer the diploma required to teach in the elementary schools of both higher 
and lower grade. In the normal schools for women a certificate or diploma is also 
conferred which permits its holder to become a teacher in, or directress of, an infant 
school. Instruction in the normal schools is gratuitous: the course is of two years in 
she lower-grade normals, of three years in the higher-grade normals, and is preceded 
by a preparatory course of three years. 
An examination for admission is required of those who wish to enter the normal 
schools. Each normal has a practice school attached, in which the pupil can obtain 
practice in teaching. The normals for women have also an infant school attached, 
which school is divided into three sections. 
Persons desiring to obtain a teacher’s position in the elementary schools are appointed 
by the communes (which pay them), after competing for such position in the competi- 
tive examination before the Provincial School Council ; this council, after examining as 
fo their qualifications, presents the list of persons eligible to such positions, and the 
Communal Council has, as its duty, to select and appoint the teachers. 
To determine the minimum legal stipend for teachers, the elementary schools are 
divided into two categcries, urban and rural, and each of these categories into three 
classes in accordance with the wealth and population of the commune. The minimum 
legal stipendia according to the law of April 11, 1886, are as follows: 
Higher 
City Schools J 
Lower 
Higher 
Rural Setools 
Lower 
First 
Class 
TON issrsrnrnn oE eo PR54 
HOMBW. os wunvnnns + snvmmniiii se, 2) 
Ton oi ivviivvmserirsrineneiiness JHB 
RY) ¢17-) | 
len. ooiiiiiiiiiiiinienians. 
VOM... einer inineennnnennns 
den...., .... PEATE * ¥ 8 
Nome: Rian 
ry 
re 
23 
Second 
Class. 
3213 
170 
182 
146 
164 
131 
144 
115 
Third 
Class. 
3193 
152 
173 
130 
152 
123 
135 
108