28<5	THE  BRITISH  APPROACH  TO   POLITICS
areas; County Councils have charge of secondary education and
elementary education outside the larger boroughs and urban
districts. Since 193X3 however, areas which reach the status of a
Borough or an Urban District, do not become education
authorities, and some Districts have voluntarily handed the work
to the County.
I. Elementary Education. All children are compelled by law
to attend elementary schools from the age of five to the end of
the term in which their fourteenth birthday occurs, unless they
are receiving suitable instruction elsewhere. For physically and
mentally defective children there are special schools where they
stay till they are sixteen. The authorities must provide education
between these ages, free of charge, appoint Attendance Officers
(still frequently referred to as "School Board men") and bring
parents who keep their children from school before. the magis-
trates. 'A fine may be inflicted, and in extreme cases, the child
may be sent to one of the Industrial Schools controlled by
the Home Office. The majority of elementary schools are
"provided", i.e., entirely under the control of the local education
authority, which builds and furnishes- them, and appoints the
teachers. For every group of schools, there is a body of managers
—voluntary workers appointed by the education authority, and
by minor authorities in the district. The managers make regular
visits to see that laws and by-laws are kept, recommend appoint-
ments of teachers, attend the school functions, and so act as a
link between the staffs of schools, and the parents and ratepayers.
The only religious teaching in provided schools is the study of
the Bible which must be pursued without any attempt to inculcate
the principles of any particular denomination. There remairt the
non-provided schools, which have been erected by religious
bodies—chiefly the Church of England and the Roman Catholic
Church—but must be maintained by the local authority. Here
denominational religious instruction is given and teachers are
appointed for that purpose by the school managers, a majority
of whom represent the religious body; all other instruction is