The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 62) made elementary education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 mandatory in Scotland. The Act achieved a more thorough transfer of existing schools to a public system than the 1870 Education Act in England. It created popularly elected school boards which undertook a significant building programme. The Scottish Act remains controversial because it caused substantial harm to the Scottish Gaelic language. At the time it was criticised because it did not deal with secondary education and because it did too little to safeguard the tradition of the parish schools in Scotland.