What is the Importance of Health Education in School?

Schools need an organisational climate for smooth teaching work in the school. It may be called well-disciplined school and its staff. It is the responsibility of the head of the school to seek cooperation of teachers and students. Students should be treated equally and their problem including teaching. Students should be looked on preferential basis.

Organisational atmosphere, environment and a peaceful working condition are very much necessary for the better teaching work, good studies and personality development of the school’s students. Since schools are sub-society, the students also learn to work in a well-organised atmosphere, full of love, harmony and fraternity.

School atmosphere has different aspects. In a well-organised atmosphere/climate students learn a lot that is taught to them by their teachers. The well organised atmosphere is not only required for studies, but also for other activities, like development of the personality, character, discipline, fraternity and a democratic set up of society. Mutual understanding, tolerance, sympathy, helping others and other human values develop in a good climate.

Organisational climate has different kinds. Since school is an organised sub-society or mini social group, it has separate existence in the school curriculum like origin/hard disciplined climate of the school like a military organisation where students are supposed to obey without any reason, or a liberal atmosphere of the school where students have their own saying. It is suggested that school needs a adjustable organisational atmosphere which suits the student community.

Teachers play an important role in smooth running of the school. The Principal of the school or the manager of the school will not be able to run the school without the active participation of the teachers. Actually, the team of the teachers led by the Principal or manager can maintain a good organisational climate in the school which is very much necessary for the teaching atmosphere. It is well established facilitate the teacher is very important for the working of the school.

Children are the wealth of a nation. It is therefore, that the health of school children has always been and will continue to be, a major concern of the school. It is responsibility of the school to provide for their welfare and cooperate with the home and the community in organising an effective health education programme.

All these three sources namely, the school, the home and the community can exert a very important influence on the breath of the individual and the community. School health programme is defined as the composite of procedures, used in school health services, healthful school living and health education, to promote health among students and other school personnel.

This programme is closely related to physical education and education of handicapped children. The school health programme should be dynamic and not static.

The following are the main characteristics of the school health programme:

(1) Health education is an integral part of the administrative context and curriculum at every level and recognised as a part of general education of all students.

(2) Experiences that enable the individual to develop his abilities for action towards improved individual and group health grow out of the discovery and appraisal of health needs. In addition, consideration should be given to students needs as they relate to medical, dental, nutritional and psychiatric.

(3) Health education does not confine its activities to children alone but extends beyond the school and college to the home and the community and into adult life. Many community agencies supplement the schools in these efforts.

(4) The conduct of the total programme of health education requires the talents of many health and education personnel, working together in a cooperative manner to achieve common goals.

(5) The individual has responsibility for the creation and maintenance of conditions, which contribute to health and to die health of others. Group action is important in motivating individuals to solve their own health problems.

(6) Adequate financial support is necessary to provide the required personnel and materials in order to achieve the ultimate goals of health education.

(7) The adequacy of health education cannot be evaluated by ordinary standards or in ordinary period of time. A bit of health information, provided now, may save a life in the present or forty years later in die future.

If the health programme is to be meaningful and stimulating to students, it must be organized nicely. After all, our real aim is that health experiences given in the school, should lead to good health habits which may be carried over into adolescence and adult life.

So, this programme needs very good organisation, supervision and control. Although, all school teachers have a basic responsibility to contribute to the health education of their students, the administrative responsibility to contribute to the health education of the total programme must be entrusted to a particular individual in the school. Once responsibility has been clearly defined, the functional organisation of the total programme can be undertaken.

Generally the director of physical education or the physical training instructor is also the health co­ordinator in every school. But the physical educator must be very well trained for health education. Then he can be in a strategic position to perform this excellent service.

Since he comes into close informal contact with students, he can gain a better understanding of their health problems and needs. Innumerable opportunities are provided in the physical education classes and in the intra-mural and inter-school sports, to protect, promote and teach health. So the physical educator can make an excellent health coordinator in every school. As far as possible, a school health committee should be organised in each school. Its function should be to give guidance and direction to health education programme within the school and to cooperate with the community health services, through its representatives, who are generally the physical training instructor.

Members of the school health committee should include the head of the school, the school medical advisor, the physical education instructor and representatives of teachers and students. If a school psychologist, nurse (male or female) and dentist are also available, they should be included. There must be someone in each school who may be given a definite responsibility of the total school health programme. He or she is generally the physical training instructor.

He also acts as health coordinator because he is trained in health education. He should be able to associate physical education very closely with health values and objectives. If well prepared, the physical education instinct is in a strategic position to perform excellent service in this direction since he comes into close informal contact with the students he is in a better position to understand their health needs and problems.

He gets numerous opportunities in physical training classes, in inter-class and inter-school matches as well as in district sports and tournaments to protect, promote and teach health. So, the physical training instructor can make a good health coordinator if he or she is well trained.

In the beginning of each school session, the teacher should plan the health and physical education programme for the whole year, in advance. He should plant all the physical and health programme activities including those of the Annual Sports Day, Annual Medical Examination, Parents Day, Service Camps as well as sub-divisional, district and state tournaments in advance and place them before the School Health and Sports Committee for approval.

It is rightly said, “No teacher is any better than the carefulness of the planning, which has preceded the teaching.” Besides physical training the teacher is also required to teach most of the essentials of health, connected with personal hygiene, safety and first-aid, mental hygiene, social hygiene, temperance and community health through physical and health education programme, he is also responsible to inculcate good habits, attitudes and skills of healthful living in his students and guide them to solve satisfactorily the individual and perplexing health problems.