View report page

106
(b) Uncleanliness.—As the Committee already know, I hold the opinion that
for a boy's head to be verminous is so unnecessary that it is by the same token
disgraceful, and the parents and guardians of these boys should be dealt with
severely. There is no justification whatsoever for a boy being absent from school
for a dirty head, and I do believe that if these cases were dealt with severely we
should get a higher standard of cleanliness, not only among the boys but among
the girls also.
The Sisters, not only in your Hospital but elsewhere, all have the same tale
to tell, that one of the first duties is to clean up the heads of these infested children,
when they are admitted to hospital for one reason or another. It is curious to see
what change comes over school-girls soon after they leave school—the number
of verminous heads becomes relatively small when compared with the number found
among girls of school-age. It is no doubt not due to the fact that they have left
school but that they have grown into the age when they begin to preen themselves
and take pride and joy in making themselves beautiful.
Perhaps the most advantageous way of dealing with girls is by frank
encouragement, and although this Report will be read by many who have a far
clearer insight into the mental make-up of girls than I have, I would like,
tentatively, to put forward a possible basis of discussion—the possibility of making
girls conscious of their hair as an adornment at an earlier age than obtains at the
present time.
The following table shows the results of cleanliness inspections compared with
similar figures for 1934 :—
1934
1935
Number of examinations of children in the schools by
School Nurses
41,499
45,169
Number of individual children found unclean
1,583
1,315
Number of uncleanliness findings
2,553
2,110
During the year, 39 children were cleansed by the Local Authority, and in
six cases legal proceedings were taken under Section 43 of the Education Act,
1921.
(c) Minor A ilments and Diseases of the Skin.—With over thirty-seven t housand
attendances at the Minor Ailments Clinics you have established there should not
be a large number of minor ailments discovered among the children who are
examined at routine medical inspections, who, as I have said above, are examined
in age groups, whether their health is good or bad, and I am happy to say this is so.