The primary teaching of girls will include the matters expressed by numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9, of the present article, and the needle-work suitable to their sex. Art. 2. Primary instruction is obligatory for all the natives. The parents, guardians, or agents of the children shall send them to the public schools from the age of seven to the age of twelve, unless they prove that they are giving them sufficient instruction at home or in private school. Those who do not observe this duty, if there is a school in the village at such distance that the children can attend it comfortably, will be warned and compelled to do so by the authority with a fine of from one-half to two reals. [36] The parents or guardians of the children may also send them to school from the age of six years and from that of twelve to fourteen. Art. 3. The teachers shall have special care that the scholars have practical exercise in speaking the Castilian language. In proportion as they become conversant with it, explanations shall be made to them in that language, and they shall be forbidden to communicate with one another during class in their own language. Art. 4. Primary instruction shall be free for children whose parents are not known to be wealthy. That shall be proved by certification of the gobernadorcillo of the village, visoed by the parish priest. Paper, copybooks, ink, and pens, will be free to all the children. The parents, and for lack of these, the children who shall be well known to be wealthy, in the judgment of the gobernadorcillo of the village, with the confirmation of the parish priest, shall pay a moderate sum monthly, which shall be assigned by the governor of each province after conferring with the parish priest and the gobernadorcillo. Art. 5. The parish priest shall direct the teaching of Christian doctrine and morality, and they shall be charged to give at least once a week the fitting explanations in the locality of the school, in the church, or any place which shall be assigned. Art. 6. Schools shall have two months of vacation per year, during the time designated by the superior civil government, at the proposal of the chief of the province. The vacations may be continuous or divided into two or three periods. Of textbooks Art. 7. The Christian doctrine shall be taught by the catechism which is in use, and approved by ecclesiastical authorities. For reading, the syllabary prescribed by the superior civil governor, the Catechism of Astete, and the Catechism of Fleuri, shall be used. For writing, the Muestras de carácter español [i.e., Samples of Spanish characters] by Iturzaeta shall be used. [37] As a text for the other matters included in the teaching, according to article 1, a book shall be compiled which shall contain them all as clearly and concisely as possible, and in addition, ideas on geometry and common knowledge of physical and natural sciences. Such book shall also serve for the last exercises in reading. [38]