Adherence to components of Health Promoting Schools in schools of Bengaluru, India

Abstract

Schools provide a crucial platform for health promotion as the school years are a vital stage in one’s life, where lifelong general and oral health-related behaviours are developed and established. The components of Health Promoting Schools (HPSs) suggested by World Health Organization provide guidance for facilitating health promotion within this setting. This study aimed to assess the adherence to the components of HPSs amongst schools in Bengaluru, India utilizing a comprehensive tool developed for the purpose. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among randomly selected 61 schools. Data were collected through structured interviews with the head of the schools, direct observation of school premises and verification of records. The significant findings of the study were that 80.3% of the schools had proper ventilation and separate washrooms for boys and girls, 83.6 and 88.5% of the schools had natural light and adequate water supply correspondingly. Only 39.3% of the schools had washrooms that were cleaned daily, and 55.7% of the schools were in proximity to business that sold tobacco products. Oral health education was not integrated into the curriculum in 39.3% of the schools, and 29.5% of the schools had no playgrounds. The study tool appeared to be sensitive in identifying the finer components of HPSs, indicating the lack of strict adherence to the components of HPSs in Bengaluru. This information can be utilized to design appropriate interventions at micro, meso and macro level to strengthen the capacity of schools for the attainment of health promotion.

Environmental and water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in schools: a community-based cross-sectional study from North India

“…11 Periyasamy found that 72.1% of the schools were situated well away from the busy roads and Kofoworade found that 13.3% were in industrial areas. 12,13 The problem of air/noise pollution among schools observed in this study may be because of their location in the congested and/or industrial town. The site of schools should be on suitable high land.…”

“…A similar pattern was observed by Periyasamy (72.1% private and 27.9% government schools). 12 But according to Jiya, the proportion of public schools (73.6%) was more than private schools (26.4%) in their study area. 16 In our study, 13 (68.4%) government schools were in the rural area while six (31.6%) were in the urban area.…”

“…In contrast to the present study, a higher number of single-storied building were observed by Joseph (46.7%) and Periyasamy (57.4%). 11,12 This may be due to more availability of land to government schools. All the schools under this study had 10-inch thick exterior walls, which prevents the students from excessive hot and cold temperature.…”

“…15 Our findings are higher than findings of a study by Periyasamy (88.5%). 12 Ventilation is an important factor for a favourable indoor environmental quality since it dilutes and removes pollutants, odours and excessive moisture. 18 We observed that 21 (42%) schools had adequate ventilation to floor area ratio(52.6% government and 35.5% private schools (p value=0.233)).…”

“…9 The healthful environment and WASH facilities are of utmost importance for school children but many studies have reported that schools lack in these. [10][11][12][13][14] As per the available literature, there is a scarcity of data on the status of school environmental and WASH conditions among schools of district Sonepat, Haryana. Hence, the present study was carried out to assess the school environment and WASH facilities in schools of a district in Haryana, so that appropriate intervention can be suggested.…”