Four and a half hours secular instruction.

9. In every public school four and a half hours at least shall be set apart during each school day for secular instruction only; and such schools may open in the morning a quarter of an hour at least before the time fixed for such secular instruction to commence, for the purpose of reading portions of the Holy Scriptures in the authorized or Douay version. The attendance of children at such reading shall not be compulsory, and no sectarian or denominational religious teaching shall be allowed in any school.