Abstract
The Third Primary School Act of 1900 (the second revision of the Primary School Act of 1886) made it compulsory for every child to attend school for four years. But the Act allowed primary-school-age children's guardians to keep physically weak and undeveloped children at home, exempted the guardians of mentally or physically disabled children from the duty to make the children attend primary school, and granted guardians who were too poor to send their children to primary school either temporary or permanent exemption from this duty. This study investigated when and by what process these provisions were implemented in Aomori Prefecture and Hirosaki City. After the passage of the Third Primary School Act of 1900, Aomori Prefecture formulated rules to compel every child to attend school, and especially encouraged girls to do so. Hirosaki City set up a register of school-age children and encouraged guardians to send their children to school. As a result, the enrollment ratio in Aomori Prefecture increased rapidly. In Aomori Prefecture and Hirosaki City, regulations concerning temporary or permanent exemption from school attendance did not become fully effective until the 1920s. This conclusion is supported by the following facts: 1. In 1900, Aomori Prefecture formulated detailed rules about the school attendance of school-age children, and in 1902, the prefecture issued official reports about guardians who were temporarily or permanently exempted from the requirement, and their children. After this, Hirosaki and other cities made similar reports and did everything possible to encourage school-age children to attend school. 2. In the 1920s, Aomori Prefecture and Hirosaki City had a complete list of the school-age children in their jurisdiction. 3. In the 1920s, "poverty" disappeared as a reason for exemption, so that "disability" remained as the only reason. 4. After the 1920s, the number of children who did not attend primary school showed little variation.
