Section 56: "Every public school shall be organized and conducted in accordance with regulations (a copy of which shall be conspicuously put up in the school): Provided that the Minister may, on the application of the Board, sanction the establishment of special classes for backward children—that is, children who, through physical infirmity, absence from school, or otherwise, are below the average standard of education reached by other children of the same age."
The Mental Defectives Act, 1911, divides mentally defective persons into six classes, as under:—
"'Mentally defective person' means a person who, owing to his mental condition requires oversight, care, or control for his own good or in the public interest, and who, according to the nature of his mental defect, and to the degree of care, oversight, or control deemed to be necessary, is included in one of the following classes:—
"Class I: Persons of unsound mind—that is, persons who, owing to disorder of the mind, are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs.
"Class II: Persons mentally infirm—that is, persons who, through mental infirmity arising from age or decay of their faculties, are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs.
"Class III: Idiots—that is, persons so deficient in mind from birth or from an early age that they are unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers, and therefore require oversight, care, or control required to be exercised in the case of young children.
"Class IV: Imbeciles—that is, persons who, though capable of guarding themselves against common physical dangers, are incapable, or if of school age will presumably, when older, be incapable, of earning their own living by reason of mental deficiency existing from birth or from an early age.
"Class V: Feeble-minded—that is, persons who may be capable of earning a living under favourable circumstances, but are incapable from mental deficiency existing from birth or from an early age of competing on equal terms with their normal fellows, or of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence.
"Class VI: Epileptics—that is, persons suffering from epilepsy."
This is similar to the classification in the English Mental Deficiency Act, which also includes the following definition:—