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CHAPTER SUPPLY OF TEACHERS ANDPROVISION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES

To ensure the smooth operation of school education and to increase efficiency of learning, the health supervision of children and pupils at school is very important, a medical examination being an integral part of such activity.

As provided in the School Health Law, a medical examination is conducted at the time of enrollment with additional examinations during the school year, and instructions for treatment and preventive measures are given according to the result of the examination. The regular medical examination is held in April in all schools and almost 100% of the pupils are examined at this time. The percentage of pupils given the X ray test for tuberculosis, which used to be relatively low, rose to 93.8% in elementary schools in 1962.

In the United States the administrative procedure for school health examination differs from one state to another; in some states an annual medical examination for pupils and teachers is required by law, while in other states a complete examination is given at the time of enrollment and in the fourth and ninth grades. Generally speaking, the health examination is in effect almost throughout the nation.

In the United Kingdom, it has become obligatory for the local government to conduct the medical examination under the Education Act in 1944. There are two kinds of health examination, a regular health examination and a special medical examination for checking on certain diseases. In 1961, 29.5 percent of the total number of pupils underwent the regular health examination and 54.3 percent were given a dental examination. This means that the health examination is not always conducted for all pupils every year. Attendance of parents at their children's health examination is encouraged.

In France, the health examination is conducted at the time of entering school, and regularly once a year in elementary schools and twice in lower secondary schools, and also a more extensive medical examination is given for professional guidance in the final year of compulsory education.

It is provided in the School Health Law of Japan that school health technica1 officers should be stationed at the office of each prefecture board of education and each school should have a school doctor, a school dentist, and a school pharmacist. It is also provided by the School Education Law that a school nurse or an assistant school nurse be placed in each school. But as the supply of school nurses is inadequate, a plan for increasing school nursing service was adopted in 1964.

Table 53. Percentage of Compulsory Level Schools Having Various School Health Services, 1964

In view of the recent increase in the number of accidents to pupils under the supervision of schools, greater importance has been attached to safety education and administration. According to the Japan School Safety Association Law enacted in 1959 the Japan School Safety Association was established as a special juridical persons. The purpose of the Association is to popularize and promote schoo1 safety service and to provide necessary benefits for the injury, disease, death or disability of children and pupils under a mutual aid system. Almost all the pupils in elementary and lower secondary schools and nearly eighty percent of upper secondary school pupils and kindergarten children are its members.

In schools of compulsory education, forty to sixty per cent of installments for the mutual aid system is covered by the establishers and the rest by pupils' parents or guardians. In the case of pupils who need financial assistance, the amount to be covered by guardians is paid by the national and local governments. The accident benefits of the mutual aid system paid by the association have been increasing since its inception. The number of benefits paid during 1963 totaled 446,000 for compulsory education, which is about 1.4 times more than that in 1960.