Commentary - (2021) Volume 9, Issue 3
Role of health education in schools
Cathae Gaias*Received: 07-Jun-2021 Published: 28-Jun-2021
Description
Many parents are keenly interested in the basic academic education of their youngsters reading, writing, and arithmetic but are not nearly as conscientious in finding out about the other learning that goes on in the classroom. A comprehensive health education program is a crucial a part of the curriculum in most school districts. Starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school, it provides an introduction to the physical body and to factors that prevent illness and promote or damage health.
The middle years of childhood are extremely sensitive times for variety of health issues, especially when it involves adopting health behaviour which will have lifelong consequences. Your youngster could be exposed to a spread of health themes in school: nutrition, disease prevention, physical growth and development, reproduction, psychological state, drug and alcoholic abuse prevention, consumer health, and safety. The goal of this education is not only to increase your child's health knowledge and to create positive attitudes toward his own wellbeing but also to promote healthy behaviour. By going beyond simply increasing knowledge, schools are posing for more involvement on a part of students than in many other subject areas. Children are being taught life skills, not merely academic skills.
It is easy to underestimate the importance of this health education for your child. Before long he are going to be approaching puberty and adolescence and facing many choices about his behaviour that, if he chooses inappropriately, could impair his health and even cause his death. These choices revolve around alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; sexual behaviour; driving; risk-taking behaviour; and stress management. Most experts concur that education about issues like alcoholic abuse is best if it begins a minimum of two years before the behaviour is probably going to start out. This means that children seven and eight years old are not too young to learn about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, and that sexuality education also needs to be part of the experience of elementary-school-age children.
Health education schemes are best if parents are involved. Parents can complement and reinforce what children are learning in class during conversations and activities reception. The schools can provide basic information about implementing healthy decisions for instance, how and why to say no to alcohol use. But you ought to be a co-educator, particularly in those areas where family values are especially important for instance, sexuality, AIDS prevention, and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use.
Many parents feel ill-equipped to talk to their child about puberty, reproduction, sex, and sexually transmitted diseases. But you need to recognize just how important your role is. With sexual topics also like many other areas of health you'll repose on the overall information taught at college and, during a dialogue together with your youngster, put it into a moral context. Remember, you're the expert on your child, your family, and your family's values. Education seminars and education support groups for folks on problems with health and parenting could also be a part of the health promotion program at your school. If they're not offered, you ought to encourage their development. Many parents find it valuable to discuss mutual problems and share solutions with other parents.
As important because the content of a health curriculum could also be, other factors are powerful in shaping your child's attitudes toward his well-being. Examine whether other aspects of the school day reinforce what your youngster is being taught in the classroom.
In addition to high school and residential, your paediatrician is another health educator for you and your child. Since your child's doctor knows your family, he or she can provide clear, personalized health information and advice. For instance, the paediatrician can talk together with your child about the child's personal growth patterns during puberty, relate them to the dimensions and shape of other relations , and answer questions specific to your youngster's own developmental sequence and rate.