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School meals, milk and vitamin supplements
A return to the Ministry of Education for a day in September, 1958, showed that
230,557 pupils, 58.2 per cent. of the number present, were provided with school dinners;
of these 18,591 received dinners free of charge. On the same day, 345,337 children had
school milk. Vitamin capsules were supplied daily without charge to children recommended
for them by a school medical officer; other children whose parents so desired
received capsules on payment of 1s. a term. (Issues of capsules at schools were discontinued
from 1.1.59 (see p. 110).)
Vision

The incidence of defective vision and the percentage of pupils referred for treatment
of defective vision was similar to preceding years: as usual the recorded incidence of
defective vision was greater among girls than boys.
24,478 pupils were noted for defective vision, of whom 5,544 (27.1%) were already
wearing glasses: comparable figures for leavers were 4,233 and 1,918 (45.3%).
Consideration is being given to the possibility of introducing routine examinations
for visual acuity of school entrants. The number of pupils found at the 'leavers'
examination to need glasses suggests that more tests for visual acuity during adolescence
would also be valuable.
Squint was most prevalent in the entrant group, falling to a very low level in the
leaver group. The overall figure of pupils referred for treatment of squint (0.6%) was
the same as in 1957.
Hygiene inspections and the cleansing scheme
The number of pupils found to be 'verminous' continued to decline, although at a
slower rate than has been the experience since the war.

* 'Verminous' in this context, includes cases with only one 'nit' (ovum), as well as cases with Hue vermin present.
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