Llangurig School 4
Where have all the children
gone?
As with all the early schools in rural areas, there were a lot of reasons (or excuses!) for children to be absent from Llangurig village school. There are many references in the School Log Books over the years to the problem of missing pupils.
Log Book
"I furnished the Board which met on Thursday with details respecting the attendance. It showed that the average of absentees was 43 daily last week, and 40 this week."
The numbers quoted here were from a school roll of under 100 children. At times the log books included detailed lists of the attendance records of the worst offendors. These noted reasonable excuses such as distance to travel, in many cases up to 5 miles on foot, and age, sometimes just 3 or 4 years old. The entry below adds "absence of love for education" to the list !
County Archives
M/E/PS/66/L
"The attendance continues to be very small and irregular owing to the prevalence of cough in the neighbourhood, to the operation of sheep-shearing, and to the general absence of love for education. Under these circumstances a poor beginning is being made with our new year's work."
