View report page

122
I trust also that adequate arrangements will be made for the
children's boots and clothes to be thoroughly dried whenever
necessary, and that further provision will be made for habits of
cleanliness, such as bathing, etc., to be enforced.
It is not suggested that provision should be made for every
child to bathe and clean his teeth, etc., at school, but there should
be ample provision at school for this to be carried out where otherwise
the children will not be educated in these very essential habits
of cleanliness.
The time, too, has come when the provision of adequate means
of drying the children's clothes and boots in the older schools should
not be longer delayed. Rheumatism is one of the prevailing diseases
in Barking, and damp clothes must contribute to the incidence of
this disease.
It is difficult to over-estimate the economic loss to the country
from the prevalence of rheumatism, and providing proper drying
accommodation at school would not only do something of itself
towards preventing the incidence of rheumatism, but it would also
be a silent teacher witnessing to the need of similar provision on all
occasions.
Provision of Meals.—May I call your attention to the fact that
last year I suggested to you that the time had come when the
temporary buildings in which the children were given these meals
should be replaced by a better and bigger building?
This is a matter I know you have very much at heart, and
I do appreciate the difficulties which you will have to face in dealing
with the problem, but it is a problem which does not brook delay
and I would seriously recommend to you that the present arrangements
have outlived their usefulness and that a better, brighter
building, with increased amenities, should be provided forthwith.
It is my duty to iterate and to reiterate that perhaps there is
no department of education of more social, hygienic and economic
advantage than that which deals with table manners, and that
whether children congregate at the food centre or whether they
partake of their meals at their own schools, these mealtimes should
be the occasion of intensive educational training.