HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1920, Page 6

HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

SCHOOL HYGIENE. The importance of good health and the necessity of doing everything possible to secure it was emphasised bv Mr. •I A. Valentine, Senior Inspector of the Trr ai aki Education Board last wpi'k. when introducing to a jnceting of ibout one hundred teachers, Dr. Elizabeth Gunn, medical inspector, who delivered an address on (/he health of school children.

i Dr. Gunn's chief point was the advocacy of tooth-brush drill. It was sometimes argued, she said, that the syllabus was already so overcrowded that teiciiers could not find the time, to devote to the matter, but it had been amply that five or six minutes per day was found quite sufficient for 1 the purpose. She asked those present not to condemn but try, and she had no doubt they would find the benefits so obvious that they would he convinced, and bei come as strong advocates of the system |as many teachers already are. The doctor then enumerated the advantages ! gained by a proper cleansing of the. i teeih—greater merk.l alertness, brain better blood, food more nourishing, greater physical activity, all of which meant less work for the' teacher, , with corresponding greater progress on | the part of the child.

Reference was made to organised luncheons or luncheons takemunder the supervision of a teacher, which secured proper mastication, more suitable lunches, insight into table amnncrs, etc. Closely with this was the cleanliness of 'the buildings and grounds and in this connection the pupils often could give considerable assistance; in some schools monitors were stationed at the doors for the purpose of preventing, as far as possible, the carrying into the room of unnecessary dirt. The doctor dealt with the treatment of different kinds of sentic sores, and other matters to which school .children are- subject. At the conclusion Dr. Gunn was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. The proposer, Mr. IT. A. Stratford, expressed the opinion, on behalf of the teachers, that greater attention in future would be paid in the schools to the subject into I which Dr. Gunn was throwing such en- [ tbusiaan.