The school committee shall make provision for visitation and inspection of every public school in the city or town by the superintendent of schools or other agent of the committee at regular periods or as often as may be required for proper supervision; provided that at least once during every school year an examination shall be made of the schoolhouse and premises, including classrooms, laboratories, and other rooms used by pupils and teachers, with particular reference to cleanliness, heating, lighting, seating, ventilation, and other sanitary arrangements, and to corridors, stairways, doors, windows, fire escapes, and other devices for the protection of life in case of fire; and of registers and other school records, of the school library, apparatus, and equipment in classrooms and laboratories, of the books, discipline, mode of teaching, and other matters that affect instruction. Report of the visitation and examination, with recommendations for the improvement of schools, shall be made to the school committee. This section shall apply to the city of Providence.