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three years at a time, the chairman being appointed by the govern- 
ment, while the rest is elected (in towns) by the town council and 
(in the rural parts) by the inhabitants of the school district. 
In towns .and villages and in various rural districts, ‘stationary* 
schools have been established where children within the prescribed 
age are required to be taught for a period of six months in the year. 
Where stationary schools have not been established, either ‘movable’ 
schools have been provided in which every child between the ages of 
ten and fourteen receives instruction for at least two months a year, 
or a teacher must be engaged to look after the education given in 
the homes within each educational area. In 1924—1925 62 districts 
had provided stationary schools; 119 districts had movable schools, 
where the teaching was imparted in some 300 different localities; and 
in 12 districts teachers had been engaged for the purpose of superin- 
tending the home-teaching. In some of the stationary schools the annual 
period of instruction exceeds six months. In the movable schools 
the same teacher ‘ambulates’ between two, three (or, rarely, four or 
more) localities at different seasons of the year. : 
The chief subjects taught at the elementary schools are: Icelandic 
{including writing), Religion, Arithmetic, Geography, Natural History, 
and (in the stationary schools) also History. The first three of these 
are obligatory on almost every child during its whole attendance at 
school, whereas the last three are obligatory only part of the time 
attendance is required. Besides the obligatory subjects it is usual in 
the stationary schools to give instruction in Singing, Gymnastics, 
Drawing, Sloyd (boys), and Needlework (girls). 
While elementary education is entirely free for all children of school 
age, a low fee is charged in a few districts for those who are not 
bound to attend. The expenditure is defrayed partly by the State, 
partly by the parishes (municipalities), the former paying one-third of 
the salaries to all the teachers at the town schools, and one-half of 
the salaries to those engaged at any other elementary school, whether 
‘stationary’ or ‘movable’, in which teaching is imparted for a period 
of six months at least per annum. In addition to this the State pays 
all allowances in respect of the increased cost of living as well as 
periodic increments for vears of service.