In a significant move aimed at improving the health and overall well being of over 12 lakh students enrolled in various government schools across J&K, Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu launched the Student Health Card today which is part of the government’s comprehensive school health education plan to ensure better healthcare for school children and facilitate their all round development.
These Student Health Cards shall be distributed to all the government schools for maintaining a proper health record of all enrolled students and shall contain information about the immunization record of a child, bi-annual examination of a child- Head to Toe for 4 Ds to find out Defects at birth, deficiency diseases and developmental delays, check list of all commonly existing disorders among children and their preliminary diagnostic tools, tabular description of periodic health profile matrices and a brief descriptions of commonly occurring diseases and ailments among children.
The launch ceremony was attended by Sh. Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor; Sh. Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, School Education; Sh. Bhupinder Kumar, Mission Director, NHM J&K; Prof. Veena Pandita, Chairperson JKBOSE; Mrs. Anuradha Gupta, Director School Education, Jammu; Dr. Arun Manhas, Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan/Mid Day Meal Scheme, besides, senior government officers, teachers, students and large number of people.
While addressing the gathering, the Lt Governor observed that focus on health and education is a nation building strategy. In fact, the health of our children is a reflection of our country’s future, especially, as our inspiring demographic dividend is bound to have a long lasting impact on the future social and economic development of our nation.
The Lt Governor said that health and education are strongly intertwined-healthy children have improved scholastic achievements as good health facilitates children’s physical and mental development and at the same time education contributes to their awareness about being healthy through informed health choices and adoption of healthy behaviors.
In fact, there is an immediate need of shifting from curative healthcare approach to preventive healthcare across the board, the Lt Governor maintained.
“Parents have to be a part of this initiative as they are one of the primary stakeholders, besides, teachers, school managements, and the government. Role of parents is imperative to achieve the goal of well being of students by making children aware about the various diseases such as the most recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) and various health choices & behaviors like WASH(water, sanitation & hygiene).Aware students will be torch bearers of tomorrow, guiding the future generations”, the Lt Governor added.
He asserted that Schools are the most effective means of improving the education and health status of our students across the country. They are ideal social ecosystems that have immense influence on the lives of our children. Every day, millions of children go to schools and spend a considerable amount of their formative years interacting with their peers, teachers, role models; gaining knowledge & skills, developing behavioral and social patterns that are retained for life.
Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Sh. Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar said that the initiative would certainly impact the lives of many students and government would ensure that the confidentiality of individual students is maintained during the process.
Commissioner Secretary, School Education, Sh. Hirdesh Kumar, said that the distribution of health cards and first check up would be completed by mid May.
Earlier in his welcome address, Mission Director, Mid Day Meal Scheme Dr. Arun Manhas, said that the medical check-ups of the students will be done in collaboration with the directorate of National Health Mission (NHM) and digitization of these health cards and related record shall also be considered gradually.
The function concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Mission Director, NHM, J&K, Sh. Bhupinder Kumar, who threw light on the collaborative effort of National Health Mission and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in bringing this initiative on the directions of Lt Governor.
