Compulsory education

Compulsory schooling, compulsory education, mandatory education or mandatory schooling is the period children must stay in school, especially state school. Most countries have mandatory school attendance laws. If a child does not go to school on the required days, this is called truancy and in many countries is punished via fines and jail time for children and or their parents. Prussia was the first modern state to pass mandatory schooling laws and the Prussian model of schooling became standard in North America and Europe during the 19th century.