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44
Chronic invalidity
The school attendance department reports each month the names of children
who have been absent from school for three months or more on account of illness.
Each year the cases on the list for the month of November are analysed, and the result
gives the only index available of the causes of chronic invalidity in childhood.
Table 26 shows the number of children reported to have been out of school for
more than three months in November, 1937, and comparative figures for the three
preceding years.
The number of children (114) absent on account of rheumatism, chorea and
heart disease still forms a very high proportion (22 per cent.) of the total, and proves
how largely this group of diseases is responsible for ill-health in childhood, especially
among girls, who account for half as many cases again compared with boys. These include
children who are being nursed at home, are in voluntary hospitals or institutions,
and in the Council's general hospitals. Since July, 1935, steps have been taken to
expedite the removal of such children as were in the Council's general hospitals,
where education is not provided, into the hospital schools, and the number not
receiving education is now 114, compared with 320 in 1934.
Nervous disorders (including 18 cases of epilepsy, 4 of infantile paralysis, and 2
of encephalitis lethargica) accounted for 36 children. Ringworm, formerly a chief
cause of prolonged absence from school, accounted for only 6 cases, compared with
129 in 1919. Since the introduction of X-ray treatment for ringworm, the average
length of absence has steadily declined, and consequent upon the shorter period of
infectivity, the danger of the spread of the disease has likewise diminished. Tuberculosis
was the cause in 22 cases.
Among other ailments, respiratory diseases, other than tuberculosis, accounted
for 54 cases, and ear disease for 27.
The total invalidity among girls was greater during 1937 than among boys
(272 to 240). There were 2 boy cripples and 4 girl cripples. These are children with
spinal or lower limb disease who are either unable to walk or require assistance
in walking, and are returned by the attendance officers simply as "cripples."
Among the "other defects" are also certain numbers of deaf, blind and mentally
defective children, who, after ascertainment, at the moment of taking the census
had not been placed in special schools.