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desirable for the sake of the children themselves, and for the sake of other
children alongside whom they have to be educated (as far as possible) in an
ordinary elementary school, that the Education Committee should consider the
question of providing special schools, either alone or in combination with the
County Council.
It is estimated that there are in this district 34 boys and 14 girls who are
considered to be mentally defective attending our schools, and six boys and two
girls not attending school.
Note. —The Act, however, does not impose on the education authority the
duty of providing for the education of children who are capable of being
educated in special schools or classes.
Condition of Clothing and Footgear.
At the medical inspection almost all the children are scrupulously clean,
both as regards body and clothing. The condition of the child as to clothing
and cleanliness is recorded by the teacher on the medical inspection cards, the
record being based on the condition in which the child usually comes to school.
The presence, or absence, of nits or vermin is recorded by the medical inspector.
The tables are given at the end of the report. The condition of the clothing
was satisfactory in 72.4 per cent, of the children, and unsatisfactory in 27.6 per
cent. The condition of the clothing does not vary much in the three different
age groups of children, the clothing of the infants being the best. The
condition of the clothing of the two sexes in the infants is about the same, the
percentage of infant boys with unsatisfactory clothing being 24.6, as compared
with 25.2 per cent, for infant girls. Among the elder children, however, the
boys are much worse clothed than the girls, the percentage of the boy leavers
with unsatisfactory clothing being 35.5, against 23.8 per cent, of the girl leavers;
and in the intermediate group the percentage of boys with unsatisfactory
clothing being 35.0, the percentage of girls 19.6.
The number of children with unsatisfactory footgear is very much the
same as for unsatisfactory clothing, the percentage for all the children being
27.4, and there are the same differences with regard to the two sexes.
Cleanliness.
As regards cleanliness of body, 6.4 per cent, of the children were dirty,
that is, not necessarily dirty at the time of the medical inspection, but were
considered by the teachers to be sent to school usually in a dirty condition ;
1.8 per cent, of the children were found infected with body lice at the time of
inspection.