The School Health Programme has been initiated in all CBSE schools after a Global School Health Survey conducted by the World Health Organisation.

The survey shows lack of hygiene awareness among students and also that school health is restricted to annual health check-ups. The programme has been started to incorporate better understanding over general health and hygiene issues through daily learning.

While the master trainers for each region recently underwent training to initiate the Comprehensive School Health Programme, the schools are making plans to form the club.

With an attempt to infuse activity-based learning in the routine studies, the teachers will involve the students in group discussions and debates.

“This is not a different module added to the already existing syllabus, but it will be a part of each subject where every teacher will mould the health and hygiene issues in regular classes,” said a senior official of the CBSE, Western chapter.

The manuals given to each school has been divided in three levels, i.e. standard I –V, standard VI- VIII and standard IX- XII and will focus on six themes including knowing your body, food and nutrition, personal and environmental hygiene, physical fitness, being responsible, safe and behaviour and life skills.

“Instead of theoretical knowledge, it will be practical demonstration of the basic health and hygiene issues like ingredients of various fast foods like cold drinks and noodles and their effects or the importance of noting the manufacturing date of food articles and medicine. The students will be groomed into a play module making it interesting and will be divided as per the classes,” said Pragya Gokhale, the primary coordinator of New Era School and master trainer of the programme for Vadodara.

While all the teachers of other CBSE schools will be trained for the programme by the end of this academic year, the programme will start from the next school session.