Three years on, Ayushman Bharat School Health and Wellness Programme has less than 50% uptake
- Three years since the School Health and Wellness Programme was launched under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, and so far only 15 of India’s States – less than half – have started weekly 40-minute classroom sessions with students.
Highlights
- A crucial cog in implementing the programme for middle, secondary, and senior secondary grades across government and government-aided schools are Health and Wellness Ambassadors (HWAs).
- Two teachers, preferably one male and one female, in every school, are to be designated as HWAs, says the National Health Mission website.
- They are meant to be trained at the State-level, to impart health promotion and disease prevention information in a joyful and interesting manner.
Various challenges in implementing the programme.
- Teachers at government schools are overworked.
- In Delhi for instance, the Health and Wellness Programme syllabus is in addition to the Happiness Curriculum, Desh Bhakti Curriculum, and Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum that schools are already implementing.
- Moreover, not all States have set aside the weekly time slot in the classroom schedule to conduct these programmes.
- There is currently no formal reporting structure or accountability to ensure that the syllabus is implemented,” said a State Programme Officer working with the Department of Health in Delhi.
- Conducting adequate teacher training programmes while maintaining quality.
- “In most schools it is viewed as an additional activity and teachers who are on the verge of retiring are allocated the HWA responsibility.
- They may not be interested in taking classes,” the officer added.