Archives

School photography of Virginia Abio and Cristina Garay, 1944. Courtesy of the author.

Until well into the second half of the last century, children entered formal education at six or seven years of age. Compulsory schooling was of short duration, usually up to the age of twelve, or fourteen at most, depending on the demand for hand labour in the respective family’s household. In addition to the standard schooling period being not long enough for the appropriate instruction of boys and girls, there was also a high level of school absenteeism, especially in rural areas, due to the urgency of farm chores and the inclement weather. For a good number of scholars, heavy precipitations and low temperatures would sure make their long daily journeys on foot from the farmhouse to the school exceedingly difficult.

 (more…)