School leaving age / Minimum age for completion of compulsory education

All information on this page is taken from At What Age?...are school-children employed, married and taken to court? This major study was written by Angela Melchiorre uniquely on the basis of States Parties’ Reports submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child from January 1997 to January 2004. Because of this specific choice of sources and the backlog in the reporting procedure, information concerning some countries may not reflect the most recent developments. The study, nonetheless, derives from authoritative information, as explained in the methodology.

We encourage all to visit the publication in its entirety (just click on the book title). This will also enable you to compare different countries, a major part of the understanding of why this information is important. For the general comparative table, see here.

Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory. A minimum age for completion of compulsory education is not mentioned, however, the Committee's Guidelines for Periodic Reports require States to "indicate the particular measures adopted to make primary education compulsory and available free for all, particularly children, indicating the minimum age for enrolment in primary school, the minimum and maximum ages for compulsory education…". In this respect, it is worth noting that the assumption whereby compulsory schooling equals primary education in length is no longer valid. The majority of countries considered here have extended compulsory education beyond primary schooling.

Nevertheless, education is not compulsory in at least 25 countries. This figure is very likely to be even higher given the number of countries which fail to report at all whether education is or is not compulsory, or report unclear information (an additional 36 countries).

Analysis of States Parties' reports reveals examples where education is not compulsory at all and others where the obligation is enshrined in the Constitution or other legal instruments but these do not provide for an age range between enrolment and completion. In very few cases there are exceptions or exemptions from the obligation of compulsory education (in such cases compulsory education is equated with public/State schooling, whereas in other countries it is clearly a far broader concept embodying all educational establishments regulated by public authorities, including those which are privately administered or even "home schooling"). Some States cite economic or social conditions as obstacles to the full realization of the goal of free and compulsory primary education. Declarations that education is compulsory are taken as based on legislative and administrative reality, except where clearly aspirational.

Methodology
This publication summarises results of a great deal of research, based on an analysis of States Parties' reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It was first published in 2002 and included State reports presented from January 1997 to August 2002. The current text is a revision/update of the previous findings with the addition of State reports from August 2002 to January 2004. Whilst it would be possible to supplement, or contrast this source with non-governmental or academic material, this has not been done here. States Parties' reports constitute self-assessment by governments and presenting them here, in an easily comparable format, allows inter-national comparison and permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC.

The first part of the publication displays a summary table listing all reporting States. Four different entries are given: minimum school-leaving age, minimum age of employment, minimum age for marriage and minimum age for criminal responsibility. The year of report and the page number are also noted for ease of consultation. The second part contains excerpts from the relevant States Parties' reports presented in alphabetical order, with direct reference to document and paragraph numbers. The source can be the initial report to the Committee, the periodic report or both where the latter is silent on minimum ages or presents unclear or incomplete information. The sections of these reports herein have been reproduced faithfully, and where information has been omitted as it was judged irrelevant this is clearly indicated in the following manner: […]. For a fully authoritative record, readers are encouraged to make use of the original text following document symbols and paragraph references given for each report.

Comparing different ages in different countries or even within the same country is a difficult task, and inferring a precise number from a general description is a dangerous exercise. Collecting, collating, analysing and interpreting State reports requires a great deal of care, thought and patience. Individual country reports are often more than a hundred pages long, and written by different parts of the government. Moreover, a variety of legal sources may exist. They may thus present different minimum ages for the same issue and even when a precise age is mentioned the language can lead one to question its enforceability. In order to maintain coherence, an analytical framework has been developed and followed uniformly to arrive at the interpretations presented in the summary table.
Where no information is provided, this is indicated by a cross (X); where the information is available but not sufficiently clear, or is self-contradictory, a question mark (?) is used. Where the information indicates a change in legislation or a division of competence in federal States or a particular situation or exception that begs closer scrutiny, a star (*) is placed beside the number. Otherwise, the information provided in the reports is translated into a precise number or a "No minimum", according to the case. In most situations the age defined by a precise number is the lowest legally permissible for completing compulsory education, entering employment, contracting marriage and being attributed criminal responsibility. In many other cases the figure has been inferred following close consideration of the four main areas according to the principles outlined below.