§ Sir W. Jenkinsasked the President of the Board of Education if any scheme is being prepared of a national character to assist blind children in order that uniformity of treatment and full advantage of facilities available can be achieved for primary, secondary and technical education; how many schools are owned and controlled by education authorities, and how many are controlled by voluntary associations, giving the number of schools in England and the number in Wales separately.
§ Mr. ButlerSome schools for the blind have always been organised on a national basis, and another school has recently been reorganised in the same way. Consideration has been given to the general reorganisation of schools for the blind, but final schemes must be deferred until after the war. The following table shows the numbers of schools on 31st March, 1939, under local authority and voluntary management respectively: 1261W
— England. Local Authority. Voluntary, Special Schools 51 19 Secondary Schools — 2 Technical Schools 9 29 Wales. Special Schools 2 1 Secondary Schcols — — Technical Schools 1 4 A number of the day schools, all of which were conducted by local education authorities and contained mainly partially sighted children, were closed on the outbreak of war, and the blind children were transferred to residential schools.