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General Statement. 107
conditions necessitated 1,236 examinations at the
Inspection Clinic.
In dealing with verminous cases excluded from
school, in fact in dealing with any excluded cases, an
exclusion certificate is supplied to the parents and at
the same time a circular giving directions how to treat
the children. The teachers receive copies of all exclusion
certificates and no children are re-admitted until
certificates of re-admission are given by the School
Medical Officer. A complete list of all excluded children
is also given to the woman attendance officer whose
duty it is to see that the children receive proper attention
at home and that they attend the Clinic for reinspection.
When, in the case of verminous children,
the parents fail to cleanse them within a fortnight, or
when children are repeatedly excluded for uncleanliness,
the School Medical Officer is authorised by the Education
Committee to request the attendance officer to issue
a summons against the parents. This procedure has,
since its initiation, certainly reduced the excluded period
and given rise to a greater degree of cleanliness. But
no matter what one does the " old offenders " always
turn up : it is the old offender who constitutes the
great difficulty in controlling verminous conditions.
Summonses were issued under the Attendance Byelaws
with regard to ten cases who were not cleansed in
a reasonable time. A fine of 20s. was imposed by the
Justices in two cases, 10s. in one case, and 5s. in five
cases. In two other cases cautions were given by
the Justices.
No provision has been made for the official cleansing
of school children, the reason put forward being that
it is the duty of the parents to cleanse the children and