The State Council, which issues an opinion on all parliament bills and draft regulations, noted 9 formal objections by the 21 councillors.
In September 2021, Education Minister Claude Meisch announced that all children would have to attend school until the age of 18, but the State Council noted that many aspects of the draft bill remained unclear.
For example, it was not clear which children would be affected by the proposal, as it was not specified whether it applied only to children living in Luxembourg or also to those living across the border and attending school in the Grand Duchy.
There were also inconsistencies regarding when children would have to start going to school, with the draft law stating that four-year-olds, including those who turn four later after September 1, would have to attend. Yet a comment section in the draft bill stated that children must be at least four years old.
The draft bill also outlined a set of sanctions for children who do not attend school, although it was not clear what type of penalties would be applied.
It suggested that supervisors would visit classrooms once per month to check attendance.
However, the draft bill did not provide any alternatives for youth who begin working at the age of 16, of whom at least 10% quit school early.
