We are excited to share that the National Resource Group (NRG) of trainers trained the State Resource Group (SRG) of trainers from all the States and Union Territories across India on the Government’s School Heath Programme (Ayushman Bharat) in August and September 2020. Arpan as a part of the NRG trained 330 professionals of the SRG on the module for Safety and Security against violence and injuries from 12 states; Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala and Odisha. Safety and Security against violence is one of the eleven modules which form the curriculum of the School Health Programme of Ayushman Bharat, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The collaborative effort of both the ministries towards ensuring the implementation of these trainings in a short span of less than two months, on an online platform which was new for many, is noteworthy. We are very glad to be a part of the NRG of trainers comprising of trainers from NCERT, MoHFW and civil society organisations.
The curriculum framework is focused on enhancement of life skills to actualise behavioural change. It underscores the importance of engaging the learners to co-create knowledge that is relevant to their experiences, promote healthy attitudes thus enabling them to connect with self and others, think critically, and communicate effectively.
It covers 11 modules based on different themes, i.e. growing up healthy; emotional well-being and mental health; interpersonal relationships; values and responsible citizenship; gender equality; nutrition, health and sanitation; prevention and management of substance misuse; promotion of healthy lifestyle; reproductive health and HIV prevention; safety and security against violence and injuries; and promotion of safe use of internet, gadgets and media.
The content has been created in workshop mode after numerous discussions and consultations with the MoE, MoHFW, NCERT, PHFI, UN agencies such as UNFPA, UNESCO and other civil society organisations such as Arpan over 2 years.
Arpan has contributed to the content on the following two themes:
– Safety and Security against Violence and Injuries (within which we have included Personal Safety Education)
– Promotion of safe use of Internet, Gadgets and Media (within which we have included how to be safe online)
Whilst the programme has been envisaged for all school going children from pre-primary to senior secondary, to begin with, it has been initiated from the upper-primary stage (age 11 years and above).
The programme is built on a cascade training approach that will create a pool of key resource persons who in turn will train teachers as health ambassadors. The programme will be delivered through two trained teachers in every school designated as Health and Wellness Ambassadors and is envisaged to reach 260 million (26 crore) children.
Next Steps: Each state will now take the programme ahead. While there is a well-defined plan with respect to execution of the programme at the school-level, there may be delays due to the pandemic.
