On February 12, 2020, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan jointly released curriculum for School Health Ambassador Initiative under Ayushman Bharat’s School Health Programme (SHP)during an occasion in New Delhi. The objective behind this is to increase knowledge along with promoting consciousness about good health among students or children.
What is curriculum for School Health Ambassador?
As per the newly released curriculum teachers will act as “Health and Wellness Ambassadors” and will disseminate various key information by organising culturally sensitive activity based sessions for one hour per week for 24 weeks in a year to promote joyful learning. These ambassadors will be supported by class monitors as “Health and Wellness Messengers”. The first phase will launch in all the public upper primary, secondary and senior secondary schools of aspirational districts. Then, remaining districts will be taken up in the second year.
- Ministry of Human Resource & Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) along with National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed curriculum framework and training material for training of nodal teachers, in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG- 3; Good health & Well being).
About School Health Programme (SHP):
The curriculum School Health Programme (SHP) under Ayushman Bharat was launched on April 14, 2018 by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh. This is a joint collaborative programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Human Resource & Development, Department of School Education & Literacy. It’s ongoing health screening program is running through Rasthriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) teams.
Other Particpants:
MoS, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey; Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Health & Family Welfare; Dr. Rajiv Garg, DGHS; Shri H Senapathy, Director NCERT; along with officials of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of Human Resource Development and representatives from the developmental partners such as Jhepeigo, UNFPA, USAID, UNICEF and WHO were also present during the inauguration ceremony also graced the occasion.
About Ayushman Bharat:
-Ayushman Bharat Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or National Health Protection Scheme is a national scheme that aimed at making necessary interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary health-care systems,in a holistic fashion.
-It was launched in 2018, under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India.
