Legislation

Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890

This Act required school boards in Scotland to pay for the education of blind and deaf-mute children if their parents were unable to do so, and empowered the boards, with the consent of the Scotch Education Department, to establish or contribute to the costs of schools for such children.

The printed version of this Act does not have a preliminary page setting out the contents, so I have created it here. The page number in this section (i) is therefore arbitrary.

The text of the Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890 was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 5 September 2019.


Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890

© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.


[page i]

Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890

CHAPTER 43


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS


1 Short title and construction
2 Extent and commencement of Act
3 Duty of school board, where parent unable, to provide education etc, for blind and deaf-mute children. Procedure for enforcement of duty
4 Contribution etc of school board towards school for blind and deaf-mute children
5 Meaning of "reasonable excuse"
6 Regard to be had to religious persuasion of child
7 Saving as to rights of parent etc
8 Inspection of schools etc
9 Parliamentary grant for education of blind and deaf-mute children




[page 325]

VICTORIA

Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890

1890 CHAPTER 43

An Act to amend the Law in regard to the Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children in Scotland. [14th August 1890.]

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 Short title and construction

This Act may be cited as the Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act 1890; and shall be construed as one with the Education (Scotland) Acts 1872 to 1883.

2 Extent and commencement of Act

This Act shall extend to Scotland only, and shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one.

3 Duty of school board, where parent unable, to provide education etc, for blind and deaf-mute children. Procedure for enforcement of duty

If the parent of a blind or deaf-mute child between five and sixteen years of age is from poverty unable to pay for the education of such child as herein-after mentioned, it shall be the duty of the school board of the parish or burgh in which such parent resides, to provide out of the school fund at rates to be approved of by the Scotch Education Department for the efficient elementary education of such child in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and for his industrial training either in a school belonging to such school board, or in some other school or institution approved of by the Scotch Education Department; and where necessary the school board shall be bound to provide for the boarding of the child at some place approved of by the school board, and for the transit of such child to and from such school or institution or place, at rates to be approved of by the Scotch Education Department.

Provided that -

(1) Where a school board making any payment in pursuance of this section is not the school board of the parish in which the parent of any such child, as aforesaid, has his legal settlement

[page 326]

in terms of the Act eighth and ninth Victoria chapter eighty-three, it shall be entitled to relief in respect of any such payment against the school board of the parish in which such parent has his legal settlement as aforesaid; and

(2) If any school board shall refuse or delay to discharge any duty or fulfil any obligation arising under this section, it may, on a summary application to the sheriff at the instance of any person interested, be ordained to do so, and the order of the sheriff, which may dispose of all questions of expenses, shall be final and not subject to review.

4 Contribution etc of school board towards school for blind and deaf-mute children

Any school board may also, from time to time, with the consent of the Scotch Education Department, contribute such sums of money and on such conditions as it may think fit towards, or itself undertake, the establishment, building, alteration, and management of, a school for the education of blind and deaf-mute children, and the purchase of land required for such a school, and the support of the inmates thereof, and for that purpose shall have the same powers as it has for the purpose of providing sufficient school accommodation for its district; and school boards shall have the same power of borrowing, and the Public Works Loan Commissioners of lending, for the purposes of contributing towards or of establishing, building, or enlarging such a school, as is conferred by section forty-five of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 45), with respect to providing or enlarging a school house.

5 Meaning of "reasonable excuse"

It shall not be deemed to be by itself a reasonable excuse, within the meaning of sections nine, then, and eleven of the Education (Scotland) Act 1883, for the non-attendance of a child at school that such a child is bling or a deaf-mute, except in the case of a deaf-mute child under seven years of age.

6 Regard to be had to religious persuasion of child

(1) In the performance of its duty under this Act with respect to a child, a school board shall have regard to the religious persuasion of the child, and shall, as far as possible, arrange that if the child attends a school or institution, not being a public school, the school or institution shall be conducted in accordance with the same religious persuasion; and if the child is boarded out, shall arrange for the boarding out being with a person belonging to the same religious persuasion.

(2) A child shall in no case be compelled to receive religious instruction contrary to the wishes of its parent.

7 Saving as to rights of parent etc

(1) The parent of a blind or deaf-mute child shall not by reason of any payment made under this Act in respect of the child be deprived of any franchise, right, or privilege, or be subject to any disability or qualification.

(2) Payments under this Act shall not be made on condition of a child attending any school or institution other than such as may be reasonably selected by the parent, nor refused because the child attends or does not attend any particular school or institution.

8 Inspection of schools etc

Every school or institution to which a child is sent in pursuance of this Act shall be at all times open to the inspection of any of Her Majesty's inspectors of schools.


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9 Parliamentary grant for education of blind and deaf-mute children

Nothing in any Act of Parliament shall prevent the Scotch Education Department from giving aid to a school or institution in respect of education and industrial training given to blind or deaf-mute children, to such amount and on such conditions as may be directed by or pursuance of the minutes of the Scotch Education Department in force for the time being.