These regulations may be cited as the Education (School Attendance) Regulations 1951.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,—

The head teacher of every school shall be responsible for the accurate keeping of an admission register and a register of daily attendance for all the pupils attending his school. The registers referred to in this regulation shall be supplied by the chief executive of the Ministry of Education and shall be in a form approved by the chief executive of the Ministry of Education.

Assistant teachers on the staff of a school shall assist in keeping the said registers and in making up summaries of attendances for each week and each term.

The registers referred to in regulation 4 shall be retained in the school until their destruction is authorized by the Minister.

Instruction shall be given at every school on the morning and afternoon of every day on which the school is not closed for holidays and on which at least 1 pupil attends the school for the purpose of receiving instruction before the first half hour of the ordinary school opening time for the morning or afternoon, as the case may be, has passed.

Morning school shall not be extended beyond the ordinary closing time fixed in the school timetable, nor shall the interval between morning and afternoon school be curtailed. The afternoon school period as indicated in the school timetable shall not be omitted or curtailed on account of weather conditions, except in the case of individual pupils, to ensure their safe return home:

provided that, when in the opinion of the head teacher the weather conditions are such as to make it clearly desirable in the interests of the pupils to depart from the usual school hours, the interval between morning and afternoon school may be curtailed by up to half an hour and the school closed for the day correspondingly earlier:

provided also that the curtailing of the lunch hour and early closing of the school shall not be given effect in any school without the prior approval of the board constituted under subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Education and Training Act 2020 of the adoption of the practice in general in its school.

The attendance of pupils in every school shall be recorded every morning and every afternoon in the register of daily attendance, which shall be marked not later than 2 hours before the time of the close of morning school nor later than one hour and a half before the time of the close of afternoon school.

Attendance by a pupil (including necessary travelling time) at a recognized class for manual instruction or at any Government clinic or at a court of justice shall be reckoned as time spent in attendance at school.

If a pupil produces written authority from a dental officer or dental practitioner for absence, and attends school whenever practicable during the remaining portion of the morning or afternoon, the time spent by the pupil, not exceeding 1 day at a time, in receiving dental treatment shall be reckoned as attendance at school. Every such authority for absence as aforesaid shall show the day and hour at which the examination or treatment is made and also the time when it is completed. Attendance so recorded shall be marked in the register of daily attendance thus: d/, or /d, or d, or in a similar distinct manner.

On the day on which the head teacher first knows that a pupil has left his school, he shall record that the pupil has left the school and the last day of the pupil’s attendance in the admission register and in the register of daily attendance. He shall record also that a pupil has left the school when the pupil has been absent for any period of 20 consecutive school days, unless he has been informed that the pupil’s absence is only temporary.

If a pupil is transferred temporarily to a Health Camp School under the control of a board constituted under subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Education and Training Act 2020 his name shall be retained on the register of daily attendance, but his attendance shall not be recorded until he actually resumes attendance at school.

The head teacher of every public school shall, within 3 days after the end of each term, send to the chief executive of the Ministry of Education on a form provided by that chief executive, a return of attendance for each term.

The regulations specified in the Schedule are hereby revoked.