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26
Here let me pay a special tribute to the patience displayed by
the teachers in attempting to help these children, but with all the
goodwill it can't be done.
The child again succumbs to the added nervous strain piled
on its physical disability—talking in its sleep of the daily difficulties
that cannot be overcome, worrying the harassed mother
who hears the nocturnal voicings of the ever present anxieties.
And so the ebb and flow of disabilities and anxieties go on. The
child falls further and further behind in physical and educational
progress, only to swell the sum of human flotsam and jetsam on
leaving school, drifting hither and thither on the sea of chronic
unemployment, a constant source of expense to the nation—mainly
through the Public Assistance Authority.
If by means of an Open Air School these children can
ultimately take their place in the world with established health
on which is built an educational edifice sufficient to ensure a competence,
then surely an Open Air School is a business proposition.
It must be remembered that an Open Air School is quite a
different proposition from our most modern schools which are " built
on open air lines," that is, in fine weather they can be thrown open
on one side and thus form a series of open air classrooms.
But the " Open Air School" is more, much more, than this.
It is a system with the following very important factors superadded
to the open air classroom: —
1. Efficient meals.
2. Sufficient compulsory rest.
3. Lessons taken in the open air.
4. Modified curriculum to suit the sub-normal child.
5. More efficient medical supervision.
1 0 PHYSICAL TRAINING.
There is no Area Organiser of Physical Training for the
elementary schools in the district, and whatever is done is by the
initiative of the teachers. The School Medical Officers however
are frequently able to give advice as to the ability of certain children
to engage in drill and strenuous games.
1 1 PROVISION OF MEALS.
The systematic provision of meals for school children is not
undertaken in this area. The Committee, however, allow Cod
Liver Oil and Malt to be sold at cost price at the School Clinics
for children recommended by the School Medical Officers.