Srinagar: The Union Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MH&FW) have joined hands to focus on the health and wellbeing of the school-going children.
The initiative has been taken under the aegis of School Health Programme of Ayushman Bharat and a training module has been developed by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) wherein two teachers have to be trained in each school to look after the emotional wellbeing and mental health of the students.
The graph of teen suicides in J&K has seen a rise over the years for which appropriate initiatives need to be taken for emotional wellbeing and health of the students.
For this, teachers have a significant role and impact on the lives of students who can play a vital role in counseling the students.
The training and resource material compiled by the NCERT in health and wellness of the school-going children is based on the school health and wellness initiatives, which harmonise diverse programmes including adolescence education programme, life skills, value education and other projects.
“The school health component will provide an excellent and much-needed opportunity to leverage the existing life skills and harmonise with the existing initiatives of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation besides other hygiene management and access to counselors,” an official document reads.
The training programmes for teachers have been started jointly by the health and school education department to train the teachers to execute the programme at the school level.
A five-day training programme has been started in Baramulla district wherein around 2500 teachers from 18 education zones of the district would be training.
“Some of the parameters of school health are reflected in the national curriculum framework 2005 which has adopted a holistic definition of health,” the document reads.
The NCERT, which has developed a training module for the joint programme launched by MoE and MH&FW, has proposed that the mid-day meals and medical check-ups should be made part of the curriculum.
“Education about health should also be provided that addresses age-specific concerns at different stages of development,” the document reads.
The NCERT in its training module has also highlighted the need to understand the health of the children in the impressionable age group which needs to be addressed by the department under the initiative taken up jointly by MoE and MH&FW department.
The NCERT has said that every school-going child was entitled to be provided opportunities for all-round growth and development to realise his or her potential.
“The early years are the most significant years for human growth and development which according to neuro-sciences was important for extensive brain development,” the official document reads.