ABSTRACT
The new nine-year comprehensive or basic school was preliminarily authorized by the 1950 Riksdag, and provision was made for a pilot programme that was envisioned to last throughout the 1950’s. It was initially launched in 14 districts having 2,500 pupils. Owing to the shortage of teachers and school buildings, government officials had to restrain local authorities who planned to initiate their pilot programmes; as of the 1957–8 academic year, therefore, these embraced no more than about 14 per cent of the Swedish school population. Towards the end of the 1950’s, however, the basic school was set up at an accelerated rate. During the 1959–60 academic year, 217 communities with about 260,000 pupils were operating basic schools. The 1962 Education Act laid down a timetable under which this school type would be generally adopted. 1968 is the target year, with proportions of Swedes living in basic-school communities shown as follows (the figures for 1966 and 1968 are estimates): https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
1957
1962
1964
1966
1968
per cent
per cent
per cent
per cent
per cent
14
60
80
95
100
