School Health and Wellness Programme

Why is in news? Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launches Comic Book Developed by NCERT and UNESCO “Let’s Move Forward”

Union Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Minister launched a novel comic book titled "Let’s Move Forward."

This comic book is a collaborative effort between the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and UNESCO New Delhi.

It signifies a significant stride towards augmenting the goals of the School Health and Wellness Programme (SHWP).

The "Let’s Move Forward" comic book is designed to cater to the diverse requirements of adolescents and encapsulates crucial information pertaining to the 11 thematic components of the School Health and Wellness Programme.

These encompass a comprehensive range of subjects, including emotional well-being, interpersonal relationships, gender equality, nutrition and health, substance abuse prevention, healthy lifestyles, reproductive health, internet safety, and more.

The comic book imparts life skills essential for fostering responsible and health-conscious behaviour among adolescents.

This innovative approach serves to not only disseminate health-related knowledge but also facilitate the acquisition of life skills necessary for comprehensive personal development.

It is accessible in multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, and Telugu, to ensure inclusivity across linguistic diversity.

The "Let’s Move Forward" comic book will be distributed across various educational and health institutions nationwide.

Its distribution will encompass State School Education Departments, SCERTs, Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs), Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs), District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Block Institutes of Teacher Education (BITEs), and state health departments.

Additionally, the comic books will be disseminated to the 29,000 schools affiliated with the CBSE, thereby expanding its outreach. An electronic version of the comic book will also be accessible on the Ministry of Education (MoE), NCERT, UNESCO, and DIKSHA websites.

About the programme:

Schools play a critical role in helping students establish lifelong healthy behaviours.

Recognizing the importance of this, school-based health promotion activities have been incorporated as a part of the Health and Wellness component of the Ayushman Bharat Programme.

The SHWP, initiated under the Ayushman Bharat campaign in April, 2018 by Prime Minister, is an initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Its primary objective is to impart health education, prevent diseases, and enhance access to health services through wellness centres within educational institutions.

School Health & Wellness Programme is being implemented in government and government aided schools in districts (including aspirational districts).

Two teachers, preferably one male and one female, in every school, designated as “Health and Wellness Ambassadors” shall be trained to transact with school children, health promotion and disease prevention information on 11 thematic areas in the form of interesting joyful interactive activities for one hour every week.

Ayushman Bharat Programme:

Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of Government of India, was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

This initiative has been designed to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlining commitment, which is to “leave no one behind.”

Ayushman Bharat is an attempt to move from a sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service

This scheme aims to undertake path-breaking interventions to holistically address the healthcare system (covering prevention, promotion and ambulatory care) at the primary, secondary and tertiary level

Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two inter-related components, which are - Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)