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224
Vision.
The entrant group is not examined for visual acuity at routine
medical inspection. If a child is wearing corrective glasses, the
vision is tested with the glasses worn.
In the intermediate group 5.7 per cent. of the boys and 6.8
per cent. of the girls had defective vision, and in the leaver group
7.3 per cent. of the boys and 9.3 per cent. of the girls. The leaver
group of girls invariably gives the worst figures for vision. These
figures are practically the same as for 1929.
In my 1928 report 1 devoted a paragraph to the effects of
poor lighting, incorrect position of desks and glare from brightly
polished surfaces, on eyesight. There are indications of a gradual
increase in the number of cases of defective vision in school
children. This may be more apparent than real, as vision is a
subject of greater importance than in the earlier years of school
medical inspection; and the correction of small defects is obtained
in more children than formerly.