View report page

153
From the figures it will be seen that of the boys 16.7 per
cent. are wearing clothes and 15.4 per cent. are wearing boots
which cannot be considered to reach a proper standard. Of
the girls, 5.6 have clothes and 8.5 have boots of the same standard.
From those figures it will appear that the girls shew
to much greater advantage than the boys, as might be expected.
As a matter of fact, the figures are probably far in
excess of what actually obtain in the schools, as many of the
children are "got up" for the occasion.
Uncleanliness.
Unfortunately, it is still necessary for the School Nurse
to devote a large amount of time in inspecting and excluding
unclean children, but there can be no doubt whatever that
her work is doing an immense amount of good. This is shewn
less in number of unclean children, but in the degree to
which uncleanliness exists. In some cases, it seems absolutely
impossible for some parents to appreciate the necessity
of cleanliness. Many are not the least ashamed that their
children should be in a verminous condition, and though
their children are repeatedly excluded they make no efforts,
or sporadic efforts only, to get them clean. Yet despite these
drawbacks, the condition of things is certainly improving.
The following tables shew the number of children who
gave evidence of their hair being in a verminous condition
—column A, badly affected; column B. slight traces only.