Consisting of various awareness programme, health education aims at improving general health conditions at the individual and community levels by encouraging people to change their behavioural pattern, habits and life style to achieve necessary standard of health.
It must be remembered that physical development and maturation are essential for a child’s overall growth and development in such other areas as menial, emotional and social growth and development.
“Healthy mind in a healthy body” is the age-old slogan and ideal of any civilised society. Hence, all those who are concerned with the growth and development of children should know the basis of child health and its preservation. Health education, therefore, is a vital aspect of Nursery Teacher’s Training programme.
“Health education is the sum total of all those experiences derived from the school and other environmental situations that influenced health habits and attitudes of an individual, community and society.” As the statement implies, “health education implies control of environment.”
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It is the family, society and the school that determines this social environment. Health education helps an individual and the community to remain healthy. Based on “hygiene education” which is derived from Greek word Hygea.
Hygea is considered as the “goddess of health” in Greek mythology, which later developed as the science of personal and social health education.