Surefire Ways of Health Promotion in Schools for Promising Benefits.

According to WHO Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. Healthy promotion at a young age in school results in sustainable wellness behaviour in adulthood. It not only improves individual wellness but is also beneficial for society and the nation. Here are some surefire ways of health promotion in schools.

Importance of health promotion in schools:

According to UNICEF, 38.4% of children in India suffer from malnutrition and 42.5% of children have poor learning outcomes.

Did you know, India has the largest adolescent population (10 to 19 years) in the world – 253 million on the negative side, 54% of adolescent girls have anaemia compared to 30% of boys.

Many children in India have health problems related to abnormal BMI, vision, dental, ENT, and hygiene issues.

Therefore, making every school health-promoting school in India is crucial.

Surefire ways of Health promotion in schools for promising benefits:

1. Incorporating health education in schools: Prevention is better than cure. School is the ideal place where students can learn about primary preventive care. Diet and nutrition, an active lifestyle can be reiterated by teachers to promote healthy behaviour and avoid risk factors. Due to the right approach 80% of lifestyle disorders such as Type 2 diabetes and related consequences, heart diseases can be prevented.

2. Developmental surveillance in the preschool child: Developmental screening aids in early intervention as well as to access if the child is achieving milestones as per his/her age. Growth and developmental surveillance in school days help in the identification of Autism, learning problems, attention-deficit /hyperactivity disorder and prompt therapeutic measures.

3. Immunization to prevent illness: Schools can build awareness of different vaccines for preventable diseases. At the latest teachers, the administration should create confidence among students and their families about the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage them to get vaccinated.

4. Organising an annual health check-up camp in schools and colleges: A holistic annual health check-up conducted by a team of experts can give valuable insight into school health. It compromises biometric screening, body composition analysis advanced eye screening, advanced dental screening, ENT screening, cardiorespiratory screening, general screening, and ergonomic assessment for school and college students.

5. Maintaining mental wellness by creating a stress-free environment: There’s a close association between academic stress and surrounding factors in the overall mental well-being of students. Anxiety disorders are very common in school children.

Identifying these nuances at the earliest can prevent harmful consequences. Teachers can guide the student to solve a conflict. Schools can arrange stress-buster activities such as sports and extracurricular activities. Schools should focus to prevent negative practices such as bullying etc.

Schools should collaborate with parents to understand individual student needs. Teamwork can augment the physical and mental well-being of students.

To conclude schools and colleges faced a major challenge to maintain the well-being of students on physical, mental, and social levels post-pandemic. Physical and mental illness manifests in many forms in the academics of children; therefore, educators should focus on comprehensive health promotion in every school.