§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the President of the Board of Education what is the number of special schools provided under the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Acts, 1899 and 1914; what is the estimated deficiency in the number of such schools; and if he can state the number of ascertained mentally defective children for whom accommodation in such schools is not available?
§ Mr. TREVELYANThe number and accommodation of certified special schools for mentally defective and physically defective children is as follows:
Number. Accommodation. Schools for mentally defective children 197 16,368 Schools for physically defective children 204 15,730 In addition to this, the Board have agreed to the temporary recognition of 472 places for physically defective children and 724 places for mentally defective children in London. It is not easy to estimate at all exactly what is the deficiency of special school accommodation km these children. The Board have, however, recently issued new forms of statistical tables for the use of school medical officers, and they hope that they will shortly be in possession of much more accurate information than has hitherto been available. Meanwhile a complete examination of the local education authorities' returns for 1922, which are 1993W the latest full returns in the Board's possession, show that, according to these returns, there were 29,210 mentally defective children who might benefit by admission to special schools. Of these, 15,400 were in certified special schools, 10,337 were in public elementary schools, and 3,473 were not in attendance at any school. The same returns show that there were 97,800 physically defective children who might benefit by admission to special schools. Of these, 13,306 were in certified special schools, 66,034 were in public elementary schools, 3,827 were in other institutions, and 14,643 not at school.