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40
Cleanliness.
A list of children found to have vermin or nits is handed to
the nurse after each medical inspection, and the figures appear on
her report. She visits these cases until she is satisfied with their
condition. Now that a second nurse has been appointed, a routine
inspection of heads is made in each school once a fortnight, and
the cases are followed up at home. Here, again, many cases
relapse as soon as the nurse's visits cease. Severe cases are
excluded, and if they are not clean within a reasonable time, the
case is taken into court.
There has been a steady rise in the level of personal cleanliness
since medical inspection was started, and—apart from
statistics—this is shown in an unexpected way. The original cards
which were printed for sending to the parents of verminous cases
are found to be far too drastic for most of the cases occurring
now, and as a result a second card has been printed, to be given
to children who need some attention which does not involve
exclusion from school.
The condition of the children's heads depends to a large extent
on the state of public opinion among the parents, and their attitude
towards the subject of personal cleanliness. In some schools nits
are not considered any disgrace, and the fact that "they are all
dead" is considered a sufficient excuse for their presence. Some
parents show very clearly that they consider the Medical Officers
are demanding the impossible, and are altogether over-particular
in commenting at all if nothing worse than nits is to be found.
In other schools the most mildly worded notice is regarded
as a deep disgrace, and messages of apology for the unfortunate
discovery are sent at once. It is not fair that careful mothers
should have their children in contact with verminous or unclean
companions, and a steady effort is maintained to raise the level
of personal cleanliness throughout the schools. Sending notices
which are not followed up is useless, and tends to make the parent
think that they may be neglected with impunity. At first only the
bad cases could be dealt with, but the improvement has continued,
and now it is possible to follow up any case in which nits are
present.