§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether his Department will cause a medical examination to be undertaken of the children attending elementary school in the Metropolis, with a view to a Report showing how many children are working in the schools suffering from ophthalmia, and what means may be adopted to prevent this disease spreading to other children.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Sir WILLIAM ANSON,) Oxford UniversityThe Board of Education are not, as at present advised, prepared to undertake the inquiry suggested in the Question. A circular was issued in October 1901 to managers and teachers of urban elementary schools on the subject of the children's eyesight. In this circular attention was particularly called to the symptoms of ophthalmia, to the necessity for immediate and continuous treatment, and to the importance of excluding the children affected from school until a medical certificate of their fitness for readmission had been obtained.