Health in focus

M. MELLY MAITREYI

Having realised the all-encompassing role of the teacher in the development of the child, The Hindu recently organised a workshop on school health as part of its Newspaper in Education (NIE) programme in Visakhapatnam.

Sixty teachers from 40 schools, attended the one-day workshop which covered several interesting and important topics dealt with in detail by specialist doctors and professionals.

The topics covered in the workshop included ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) children and how to tackle such children, visual problems and early detection, dental health, disabilities, balanced diet and good calories for health promotion, common communicable diseases, diarrhoeal diseases, skin disorders, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation, adoloscent problems and mental care and accidents and first aid.

Teachers who closely watched children six days a week could observe their physical growth, skin condition, visual and hearing and dental problems, as also any signs of listlessness, fatigue, apathy, sleeping in classroom and so on. Emotional health problems like nail biting, extreme sensitivity, over-timidity, stammering, lying, stealing, cheating and cruelty would be some of the traits that teachers would be able to notice. The school should maintain health records of all students and teachers should keep the parents informed.

Giving their views after the workshop, the teachers suggested that the NIE teams could visit schools so that all the teachers in the school could derive the benefit directly. Some of them said that alternative therapies could also be introduced at school level such as Yoga, Reiki etc., to help children. At the end of the day the teachers were of the unanimous opinion that the workshop reinforced the responsibilities of school managements and teachers towards children.

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