Northern Ireland is 329,583. The number of pupils attending Catholic managed schools is 148,225. Scotland Like in England and Wales, Catholic schools in Scotland are either independent or state-run and overseen by the Scottish Catholic Education Service, established in 1972 as part of the Catholic Education Commission to assist the Bishops' Conference of Scotland in matters of education. The Education Act 1918 guaranteed the rights of Scottish Catholics to educate their children in local Catholic schools and protected the rights of Catholic schools to preserve their religious character. During the 1920s, ownership of most Catholic schools transferred from the Dioceses or the resident order to the state sector. They are known as "denominational schools" and are open to pupils who meet the specified prerequisites regardless of financial situation. A select few, most notably St Aloysius' College and Kilgraston School, remain private. North America Canada The existence of Catholic schools in Canada can be traced to the year 1620, when the first school was founded by the Catholic Recollet Order in Quebec. Most schools in Canada were operated under the auspices of one Christian body or another until the 19th century. Currently publicly supported Catholic schools operate in three provinces (Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan), as well as all three federal territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon [to grade 9 only]). Publicly funded Catholic schools operate as separate schools in Canada, meaning they are constitutionally protected. The constitutional protection enjoyed by separate schools in Canadian provinces is enshrined in Section 93 of the Constitution. It gives provinces power over education but with restrictions designed to protect minority religious rights. These restrictions resulted from the significant debate between Protestants and Catholics in Canada over whether schools should be parochial or nondenominational. As opposed to the provinces, the right to separate schools is protected in the three federal territories by the federal Acts of Parliament, which establish those territories. Section 93 was the result of constitutional negotiations in the 1860s. Pre-existing rights for tax-funded minority Catholic and Protestant schools had become a significant point for negotiations surrounding Canadian Confederation. Retention of separate school boards with public funding was a significant issue, chiefly due to ethnic and religious tension between Canada's (primarily French-speaking) Catholic population and the (primarily English-speaking) Protestant majority. The issue was a subject of debate at the 1864 Quebec Conference. It was finally resolved at the London Conference of 1866 with a