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48
Malnutrition existed among London school children to a much greater extent
than now prevails, and the teachers of London, faced with the difficulties of endeavouring
to educate children who were obviously suffering from lack of food, undertook
extensively to give some nourishment to such children with the aid of voluntary
funds. With the collection of these funds the name of Mrs. Burgwin must always be
remembered, for she, with the late Mr. G. E. Sims, of the Referee newspaper, was
largely associated with the collection and distribution of funds for the purpose.
The meals given varied widely, but were restricted in scope and in nutritional
value by the inadequacy of the funds contributed to cover the whole of the needs of
the schools. Bread and soup given at mid-day were, in many instances, the form in
which the supplemental needs were partially met; in other cases a breakfast of cocoa
with bread and margarine had to suffice.
After the enabling Act of 1906, the Council took over the responsibilities of feeding
necessitous children in the schools, and the children's care organisation was set up to
carry out the necessary local enquiries and the selection of children to be fed.
The nature of the meals to be given was discussed, and it was decided that a substantial
mid-day meal should be given on the lines sanctioned by English use and
custom and consisting, generally, of two courses, one of meat and vegetables and the
other of a substantial pudding. On the advice of the Council's medical officer, the
standard adopted was that each meal should give 750 calories and contain at least
25 grammes of protein. At that time the discoveries in relation to vitamins had not
been made, and it was considered that, whereas the children obtained at home
sufficient, or even possibly an excess of carbo-hydrate food, the more expensive
protein element necessary for growth was lacking in the home diets, and it was
desirable that a meal rich in protein should, therefore, be provided. The desirability
of including more food of a fresh nature was raised on medical grounds, but the
arguments which could be used in the state of knowledge which existed at that time
were not found to be sufficiently convincing.
During the winter of 1910, the school doctor at Wolverley-street school, Bethnal
Green, finding so many children in the school at that time suffering from malnutrition,
suggested that they should be given milk in school. The head teachers and the care
committee of the school took up the suggestion and milk was provided. The results
were so excellent that the practice spread, first to neighbouring schools, and eventually
to the whole of London, of giving milk to school children on the school doctor's advice.
Since the introduction of the Milk Marketing Board's scheme in 1934, the custom of
giving milk in school has widely spread beyond the limits formerly observed, and,
in addition to the necessitous, a large proportion of children are obtaining milk in
school on the payment by the parents of roughly half the economic cost. It should be
mentioned that, before the introduction of the scheme of the Milk Marketing Board,
many head teachers had organised milk clubs in the schools, through which the
children were able to obtain milk on payment, if the parents so desired. Special
attention has been paid to the milk question, since the necessity for adequate vitamin
content in the food consumed has been at least partially met by this provision.
In the case of necessitous children, in whom specific vitamin deficiency has been
diagnosed by the school doctor, the provision of cod-liver oil and malt as a school
" meal " has also been fairly widely made in London.
Until comparatively recently, the same practice in dealing with necessitous
school children, was followed in the Scandinavian countries as in London, i.e., the
giving of a substantial hot meal in the middle of the day.
Since attention has been drawn to the existence of vitamin deficiency, the
authorities in these countries have been revising their ideas. Owing to the long period
of the winter, there is a special difficulty experienced by the parents in northern
countries in providing sufficient food of the protective kinds, e.g., fresh farm and dairy
produce, raw salads and fruit.