ABSTRACT
In Italy as early as 1859 when the Kingdom was formed it was decreed that municipal primary schools giving four years’ free education should be created in all communes with a population of over 4,000, while the other communes were allowed to set up schools with only a two-year course, though they could associate with others so as to have the full elementary course. In 1877, however, it was decided that the primary school should be extended to five years, and this was followed in 1904 by the setting up of the ‘popular course’ comprising the fifth class with the addition of a sixth, so that education now became compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 12. A further step forward was taken in 1923, when it was laid down that education should be compulsory for children aged 6 to 14; nursery schools became the preparatory grade for elementary education, which was divided into a lower grade of three years and a higher grade of two, and rounded off by a complementary course designed as a trade apprenticeship, attendance at which was compulsory wherever it existed.
