It provides basic education free of charge to children between the age of 6 and 17, i.e. in the voluntary pre-school class, the 9 years of compulsory education and the voluntary 10th year. It is all a question of economy and pupil basis. The smallest school has 2, the largest 764, and the average school 304 pupils. As regards the management of these schools, see Chapter 2. 4.3.2. Private schools are recognised and receive government financing regardless of the ideological, religious, political or ethnic motivation behind their establishment.
Some private schools are very old, some quite new, and new ones are added all the time.
It is characteristic of the private schools that they are smaller than the municipal schools. All that is demanded of private schools is that their teaching measure up to that of the municipal schools. However, in principle it is not up to any government authority but to the parents of each private school to check that its performance measures up to the demands set for the municipal schools. The parents must themselves choose a supervisor to check the pupils' level of achievement in Danish, arithmetic, mathematics and English. If the school is found inadequate, the supervisor must report it to the municipal school authority.