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delay before the improvements suggested were carried out, and
even at present all the defects have not been remedied. The
premises also are not always maintained in a satisfactory state of
cleanliness.
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL
CHILDREN.
During the past year, the Education (Administrative Provisions)
Act was passed, and came into force on January 1st, 1908.
It compels all local Education Authorities to provide for the
Medical Inspection of Children in all Public Elementary Schools.
The Act imposes everywhere a duty of very considerable magnitude,
but in a populous district like East Ham, with its large
child population, the task must necessarily prove exceptionally
heavy.
A report on the Act was presented to the Council, and
suggestions made for the carrying out of the obligations imposed.
In framing this, every care was taken to make the fullest possible
use of the existing Staff, and to limit as far as possible additional
appointments and increased expenditure.
The following is a summary of the report:—
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN.
For the information of the members of the Council and of
the Education Committee, I beg to submit the following
particulars of the Act recently passed dealing with this
subject:—
The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907,
states that after January 1st, 1908, local authorities shall:—
" Provide for the medical inspection of children,
immediately before, or at the time of, or as soon as
possible after their admission to a public elementary
school, and on such other occasions as the Board of
Education direct, and also gives power to make such
arrangements as may be sanctioned by the Board of
Education for attending to the health and physical
condition of the children educated in public elementary
schools."