The 3 Main Objectives of School Health Programme

Amidst the daily challenges which pupils encounter in their various learning environ, the 3 main objectives of school health programme is set to tackle these worries as the health conditions of learners daily raise concerns. Sometimes it is hell for teachers and management that parents begin to ask questions that are not business-friendly to the main purpose of education in the community.

However the school is supposed to be the place where learners should come to learn the rudiments of keeping one’s self healthy in response to whatever environment one is in. The school setting should provide several advantages and opportunities for delivering content and skills on health and development issues among learners (pupils) and teachers as well as parents.

Young people attending school are at a stage in life where they are willing and able to learn new information and skills, irrespective of whether the information is good or bad. Civil society groups as well as officials in the health and education department have long argued on the need to impart health content and skills to young people, and the school setting rather than the community has been viewed as the most ideal place.

The school setting presents a great opportunity for imparting such valuable information and skills to this captive
audience. Further, the school setting provides an opportunity for peer education since most of the young people share experiences and are likely to influence one another positively or negatively.

Values of Health Promotion in Schools

Essential elements of a health-promoting school include healthy school policies; the school’s physical environment; the school’s social environment; individual health skills and action competencies; community links; and health services.

The main purpose of the health-promoting school is to build health knowledge, skills and behaviors in the cognitive, emotional, social and behavioral domains and to enhance educational outcomes among learners. Healthy school policies are intended to promote health and well being in the learning environment.

Moreover, the social environment refers to the relationship between learners and staff and also extends to parents and the wider community. The element of individual health skills and action competencies refers to both the formal and informal curriculum and associated activities meant to benefit students in their daily life and later in life.

Read Also: Five Importance of Environmental Health

3 Main Objectives of School Health Programme

Below are generally the 3 main objectives of school health programme you should know as they are the often most carried out events with regards to health planning and health promotion in schools around the world:

  • The Provision of Learners’ Health Needs

The school health programme is a health program created in order to meet the health needs of pupils and students with the support of the government. It is comprised of projects and activities in a school environment for the protection and promotion of the growth and development of school pupils in the community.
  • Safeguarding of Health Improvement

The school health programme aims at achieving a sustained and rapid improvement of the health of school children. This is to ensure that children from preschool age to adolescence are as healthy as possible so they can be in the right position to receive teachings and also attain their maximum physical and intellectual potentials.
School Health Program seeks to provide the right learning environment as regards to the health of the child and the physical environment so as to make it conducive for learning.
  • Creation of Structure for Learning Health Education in Schools

According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria has created its National School Health Program. In Nigeria, the school health programme provides the whole health structure for educational institutions. A strategy was also put in place to ensure the effectiveness of the program in all countries of the world. This was called “The focusing Resources on Effective School health.
This strategy also promotes four main components of any National School Health programs, which are School-based Nutrition, Environment and water sanitation, School health policies, School-based health services. Other organizations that define the regulations of the School health program include The World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, The Education Development Centre and Partnership for Child Development.

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