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49
as to the exclusion of scholars simply because a class, or class.room,
happens to be full.
"Their Lordships are of opinion that a child should
not be refused admission on the ground that the room
containing the standard in which the child should be
taught was full, so long as the total number of children
does not exceed the total accommodation under the Article
85a of the code ; and that the teacher should not place a
child in a particular room if the accommodation of that
room is habitually exceeded ; but that will not relieve the
Board from making such changes (if necessary) in the
organisation of the school as will enable the child to be
admitted and placed in his proper standard; and the same
principle applies with regard to the school statf (Art 73)."
(Letter to L.S.B., reported 28.9.94).
School teachers appear to think that they are
allowed under the Articles quoted above to have
attendances in excess of their certified accommodation
not exceeding 15 per cent. of such accommodation.
It is, however, questionable whether the Code
warrants such a reading. The excess allowable
appears to be one not exceeding 15 per cent. of the
numbers for which the teaching staff is certified as
sufficient, not of the accommodation of the buildings.
The standard allowances are 8 sq. ft. of floor space
and 80 cu. ft. of air space, and an overcrowding to the
extent of 15 per cent of the certified accommodation
would reduce these quantities to 6 9 sq. ft. and 69
cu. ft. respectively. Even the full standard of 80 cu.
ft. makes the work of efficiently ventilating the rooms
very difficult, and the aggregation implied by that
standard, and still more by the reduced allowance,
greatly favours the spread of infectious diseases of all
kinds. The question is one of very great importance