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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
885
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and discussed the question of the giving of instruction in hygiene and sanitation to teachers and others. The report reads as follows:-
The Board appointed by His Excellency, and consisting of the Prin- cipal Medical Officer, the Secretary for Native Affairs and the Acting Director of Education, met on two occasions and discussed fully the question of giving instruction in hygiene and sanitation to teachers, sanitary inspectors, and dispensers.
"1. The Board are of opinion that the schemes for giving instruction in hygiene, &c., now in operation in Lagos and Sierra Leone, are of too advanced a nature to be practicable in this Colony at present, and recommend that the course of lectures drawn up and delivered to the teachers of the Government School by the Health Officer of Accra be adopted as the prescribed course for teachers and others.
-
"2. With regard to the carrying out of the scheme the Board suggests : –
"(a) that hygiene and sanitation shall become a compulsory subject at the examination of teachers for certificates, and that the Board of Education be asked to award grants to those teachers who show proficiency in the subject;
"(b) that the Town Councils should cause instruction in hygiene, &c., to be given to Inspectors of Nuisances in the various townships by teachers who hold certificates of proficiency in the subject, adequate remuneration to be made out of the funds at the disposal of the Town Councils;
"(c) that Dispensers should receive instruction from the Local
Medical Officers.
"3. The Board are of opinion that no useful purpose would be served by the retention of Lecture XIII. on maternity, and recommended that in the new edition this lecture be omitted.
"W. R. HENDERSON,
"Principal Medical Officer.
"W. C. F. ROBERTSON,
"Acting Secretary for Native Affairs.
"E. G. ROWDEN,
"Acting Director of Education."
The Board of Education discussed the matter at a meeting held on the 2nd of February, 1906, and a small Committee was appointed to consider the manner in which the recommendations contained in the above report should be carried out, and it was decided that the lectures of Dr. M. S. Deacon delivered to the Government School teachers should be the prescribed text book, and that a series of lessons should be drawn up by the Director of Education on the first 12 lectures for use in the training institutions and schools in the Colony. At a meeting of the Board of Education held on the 31st of May, 1906, the Director of Education submitted a series of questions on the first lecture for approval, and was directed by His Excellency the Acting Governor to complete the series. This series
is now being completed, and as each lecture is printed it is forwarded to all the managers of training institutions and schools.
At the Teachers' Examination to be held in December, 1906, hygiene will form one of the prescribed subjects of examination. In addition to the above, Lecture XIII. on maternity has been translated into the Ga and Twi languages, and is now being printed by the Basel Mission Society at Basel. On receipt of the lectures, copies will be distributed to women throughout the Colony.
June 15, 1006.
I have, &c.,
E. G. ROWDEN,
Director of Education.
25482
(No. 185.) MY LORD,
No. 25.
BRITISH GUIANA.
ACTING GOVERNOR COX to THE EARL OF ELGIN.
(Received July 14, 1906.)
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, June 21, 1906. WITH reference to Mr. Lyttelton's circular despatch of the 26th August last,* on the subject of teaching the rudiments of hygiene in the schools of the tropical Colonies, I have the honour to report that this important matter has been receiving the careful attention of this Government, and it has been decided, on the recom- mendation of the Inspector of Schools, to add to the existing course of instruction in elementary hygiene for Standards IV., V., and VI., the "Outline scheme for teaching Hygiene and Temperance," and a "Treatise on Malaria " by Dr. J. R. Dick- son, Assistant Medical Officer of Health for Trinidad and Tobago, and steps have been taken to obtain the necessary number of copies for distribution in the schools of the Colony.
2. I hope that Dr. Godfrey, the Surgeon-General, and Dr. Law, the Medical Inspector, will be able to prepare a text book for general use, but this work will not be ready in the near future, and, as a beginning, the publications referred to should be useful.
32551
No. 26.
BERMUDA.
I have, &c.,
CHARLES T. COX.
GOVERNOR SIR R. M. STEWART to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received September 3, 1906.)
(No. 88.)
MY LORD,
Government House, Bermuda, August 20, 1906. REFERRING to Mr. Lyttelton's Circular despatch of the 26th August, 1905,* on the subject of teaching elementary hygiene in the schools of tropical Colonies, I have the honour to report that so far it has not been found practicable to extend the teaching of the rudiments of hygiene in the schools under the Board of Education beyond the teaching referred to in Sir H. Geary's despatch quoted in the enclosure to Mr. Lyttelton's circular.
2. I may remark that Bermuda not being, strictly speaking, a "tropical Colony," and being peculiarly immune from tropical diseases, it appears to me that the injunctions contained in the Circular despatch* under reference were not particularly applicable to this Colony. At the same time, I fully appreciate the expediency of instituting a definite course of instruction for such teachers in this Colony as are under the Board of Education, and also of giving facilities to other teachers to attend a course of lectures.
3. The question has not been lost sight of, and the Medical Officer of Health had been invited to give to the teachers a course of lectures on the Laws of Health.
4. The Medical Officer of Health was prepared to give the lectures referred to during the last winter vacation of the schools, but unfortunately he was called upon at that time to cope, single-handed, with a mild but a somewhat alarming epidemic of diphtheria. The outbreak was believed to be due to the arrival at Bermuda of a tourist convalescent from the disease. A special isolation hospital was established by the General Board of Health to deal with the epidemic, and the Medical Officer of Health was called upon to take charge of this hospital and to give his undivided attention to his duties in connection with the Public Health Aots.
• No. 1.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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