View report page

83
167 children were reported by the Head Teachers to be in
their opinion necessitous or undernourished. A few children who
had been seen Ailment Clinic, or during a routine
school inspection, were added to the list. Altogether, 175 children
were preferred for examination.
We used as a basis the relation between the height and weight
of the child and singled out for special examination any child who
fell below 7% of the standard weight for his height.
Of the 175 children who were first reported to us, 127 were
weighed and measured at the Clinic, and the weight of each child
was compared with the average standard normal weight for height.
48 of the children were absent from school for various reasons, so
they were dealt with at the school on their return.
14 of the 127 children were found to be overweight, 7 came
up to normal, 46 were less than 7% below weight, and 60 were
made than 7% below weight. These 60 children were submitted
to a Careful physical examination to determine the cause of malsituation.
In most cases they were accompanied by a parent and
a family accurate idea of the home conditions could be surmised.
Of the 60 children, 5 were obviously suffering from physical
defects. One child was suffering from acute rheumatism, another
from heart disease, 3 children had threadworms and no attempt
had been made to clear up the condition.
12 of the children were well cared for and the food they had
was sufficient in quantity. None of them had any physical defect
to ccount for the failure to gain in weight. In most of them the
malnutrition was undoubtedly due to faulty health and food habits,
want of rest, and overfatigue either singly or combined. Many of
these children from the age of 6 years onwards never went to bed
Unhl 9 or 10 o'clock at night.
Faulty food habits were found not only in this group of
children but also in many of the others, and they were practically
always associated with other factors, such as over fatigue and poor
mothering generally. We found that although sufficient money was
spent food, it was badly spent and full value was not obtained
from the outlay.
In several cases both parents were at work, and the child
hadto fendfor himself for the mid-day meal, which usually con.sidered
of bread and butter. We also found that meals were served
regular intervals, but the most important factor was the total
disgaurd paid by the mother to food values.